let's not forget hosszu's ridiculous 53.5 freestyle split at ncaas in the 400 im. le is 16, is that that hard to believe she might just be amazing?

I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around that she closed as fast as half the men's field. Saying a 16-year-old Chinese girl is a better closer than most of the best men in the world defies logic. I can't think of anything to compare to from a racing sports standpoint.

[This message has been edited by Look Out Below (edited 7/29/2012 1:04a).]

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calling out Sun or Thiago for cheating is just sour grapes. those dudes have been awesome for years. Sun is the best distance freestyler in history.

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China cheats like hell in every sport. If she was Australian or any European nationality, I wouldn't give a ****. The fact that she is Chinese and beat ****ing Lotche's freestyle time leads me to believe that she is cheating like crazy. There is no way she could possibly do that otherwise.

China makes a ****ing mockery of Olympic procedures. They are jjst following in the footsteps of East Germany and Russia.

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Ye is 16, is that that hard to believe she might just be amazing?

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Yes.

Great prelim swim out of Julia. Led for much of the race and beat Bootsma of the U.S.

Alia looked terrific too. Really owned her heat. I think Breeja has some places she cam improve between prelims and semis. If she wants a medal, she's going to have to fight for it. Pretty cool that we can say that, after prelims, A&M can lay claim to two of the top 10 breaststrokers in the world.

[This message has been edited by Look Out Below (edited 7/29/2012 5:11a).]

yet we have no problem when katie ledecky/katie hoff/take your pick comes roaring onto the scene during an olympic year.

sour grapes.

Kind of a well established fact that each country has drug cheats.

Just look at Marion Jones, Antonio Pettigrew, Alvin Harrison, Calvin Harrison, Jessica Hardy for the US. In fact there's some times on the American team that I've also found hard to comprehend other than they just really improved.

It's not like it's unheard of for 16 year olds to break multiple world records (Janet Evans). Just recently Miss Franklin was 16 when she broke her first record.

The Aggie girls all looked good this morning. Julia's swim was smooth and strong. Alia looked great, especially on the 1st 50. I think Breeja looked just a bit timid at the start but looked completely at ease throughout. I think her time was just about perfect for a prelims swim. 1st race jitters out of the way for her.

As for doping....

I am not concerned about Sun. He has been an elite for some time. Ye Shiwen on the other hand is nothing like Franklin. I have seen Franklin personally swim when she was 14. She is 6'1 and was swimming 48+ 100 free as a 14 year old. She is not some sudden talent. Ye Shiwen's closing 100 was astounding. She crushed the world record. There are good reasons to be suspicious.

The US record for doping in SWIMMING is pretty damn good. Hardy's banned supplement case is hardly a statement about US SWIMMING doping.

I do admit the last 100 does seem suspicious

But calling Ye some sudden talent is quite unfair. She has won the Asian Games when she was 14 and is also the 200IM world champion.

Larson 1st in her prelim

Some shocking news in the women's gymnastic qualification this morning: Jordyn Wieber, the current all-around world champion, was beaten out by Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman for the two US spots in the all-around. The USA is sooo strong. They did really well.

LARSON

Volmer WR and gold at 55.98 in the 100 fly!

Larson 2nd to Soni in the first semi heat.

Atkinson in 4th

[This message has been edited by Bunk Moreland (edited 7/29/2012 1:57p).]

Atkinson in a swimoff for the last spot in finals!

Larson qualifies for the final. Atkinson will be in a swim-off, later this evening, for the last finals spot.

I'd be fine if the French would diaf.

poetic justice in that one...

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poetic justice in that one...

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I know. Of all the countries to lose to. And in the same fashion!

[This message has been edited by Ramona (edited 7/29/2012 3:19p).]

Anyone but France...I'd almost rather lose to China than France

but on the bright side, apparently the 100 free is now wide open

Atkinson in the final. Whoop!

If Alia can replicate her swim off time, she is in the hunt for the bronze along with Breeja and the Russian.

The Lithuania is simply too good to be beaten right now and Soni is comfortably in the second spot. Should be a heck of a race for the bronze.

I'm really happy for Hansen to not only finally beat Kitajima but to grab the last medal in doing so. Not the color of medal he probably wanted but there's some definite long-coming redemption there.

I feel awful for Julia. She was so close to making the 100 back final. I know she really wanted that one. I'm glad she has some more races to show us what she's got.

I can't believe Lochte was the one that blew it for the men's relay. Lochte 1, Phelps 1.

I'm disappointed for Lochte but I wouldn't say he "blew it." His split was 47.89. I think Grevers, even after his 100 back semi, would have beaten that though. Very impressed with Phelps' swim - 47.15 split. Huge swim for him.

Alia's swimoff time was fantastic. I didn't the race but she swam like she wanted it.

I'm also glad for Hansen - he medaled and beat Kitajima. I don't see Kitajima earning the 3-peat he wants.

[This message has been edited by Crazy Ag 97 (edited 7/29/2012 5:12p).]

If Lochte had swam the same split as the guy he clowned in the 400 IM the day before then we win that relay. I know the French anchor was ridiculous but I still say he blew it. If you want to be the man, you don't blow relay leads as the anchor.

Olympic sportsmanship!

http://olympics.yardbarker.com/blog/olympics/article/abby_wambach_tangles_with_colombian_player_gets_punched_video/11322196

Agree with LookOut.

Personally, I don't think Lochte had any business even being on that relay. Granted, he is currently the best swimmer in the world, but he is not a 100 free swimmer, there are other US sprinters that earned that spot. If he wanted to be on the relay, then he should've swam at least the prelims at the trials to establish an official time, as Phelps did.

Crazy Ag,

You may want to check your facts.

Phelps didn't swim the 100 free at the trials.


Lochte swam the 100 Free Prelims and Semis qualifying for the finals. After qualifying for the finals, Lochte decided not to swim the finals.

Lochte finished 5th in the prelims with a 49.33 and finished 5th in the semis with a 48.91.

that jamaican breaststroker has dropped almost 3 seconds this summer... that's definitely too much. smells fishy, right guys?

Calm down, bro. Plus, that's not even an accurate statement.

Edit: Hosszu (spelling?) has been on the international scene for years. This 16 year old has never won the 400IM in lcm at an international meet before the Olympics. Quite a time to peak.

[This message has been edited by TheSituation80 (edited 7/29/2012 6:20p).]

Crazy,

I think they should have let Grevers swim in finals. He had the 100 back semis, but his 47.5 in prelims would have been nice to have.

sitch

i'm not your bro, friend.

you got me on the time. i thought alia's time from pan ams was slower/her best. and to be clear, i don't think she would ever juice.

i was just trying to mock the subjective 'standards' some folks have been coming up with to accuse athletes of enhancing. there is a big problem when people automatically yell 'cheater' just because someone is improving drastically whilst chinese.

the only reason i brought up hosszu's name is because everyone was pointing to ye's free split as proof, yet there is an obvious example right in front of us of a very manly (per se) freestyle split at the end of a record setting race.

i would be much more leery if ye was 26 rather than 16.

Come on poly,

Its not like doping/Cheating hasn't been rampant through the Chinese sports teams the last 20 years. I have to say that the lastest Chinese swimmers have seemed to stay on the scene longer than the olympic year.

The Chinese have been caught doping in swimming for decades. Are there Americans doping? Yes. I don't think Dara Torres is 100% natural. However, China has a reputation for doping (forced by the state or not I am not sure). A recent example was one swimmer from China was caught in March with EPO (Source: Swimswam).

My main problem is with how the record was broken. She was way behind WR pace, out-splits the male champion in the last 50 and almost beats him in the last 100. There are few surprises in swimming at the Olympics. She made such a massive transformation in two years to go a 4:28. Have the Chinese found a way to train more efficiently than the rest of the world? Maybe. Is part of training more efficiently the use of banned substances and masking agents? I think so in her case.