US Swimming explodes

The American swimming team are absolutely buzzing at the moment. After their monumental victory in the men’s 4X100m freestyle final yesterday morning, they had an equally inspired session early on today.

Phelps continued to dominate the games so far with a world record breaking, gold medal winning swim in the 200m freestyle. His 1:42.96 was 0.9 seconds quicker than his previous record and a remarkable 1.75 seconds quicker than Ian Thorpe’s previous Olympic record time from the 2004 final.

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What impressed me more though was his swim half an hour or so later in the 200m butterfly semi-final. The thought of 200m of butterfly is scary enough. But when you see a man kick five times underwater on his final (not first) turn and casually record an Olympic record, you have to accept the impossible. His lung capacity must be outrageous. I wonder whether he performs Inspiratory Muscle Training, or whether like so many great athletes his perfect physiology for his sport is a combination of fine genes and foundation training (think Muhammad Ali).

Following the freestyle final Natalie Coughlin did the Americans proud with a gritty 100m backstroke swim to claim gold. She had been under pressure after Zimbabwean Kirsty Coventry had stolen her world record in the semi-finals, but showed strong conviction to hold her off in the final. Coughlin wasn’t able to recover her world record but she’d take gold over silver any day.

Next up it was Aaron Peirsol’s turn to perform some heroics. The 100m and 200m backstroke champion from Athens 2004 earned another gold with a world record 52.54sec swim. Peirsol is not the biggest, strongest man but his arm speed was outstanding as he shot down the final 50m. His rotator cuffs must be finely trained, flexible, powerful and full of fast-twitch fibres.

The smiling, cooperative Californian will be seeking a double-double in the 200m final on Friday. On Sunday, the American men join forces for the 4X100m relay. That could be more dominant than the US basketball team’s game against Angola later tonight.

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