2009 Getty Images

Jason Lezak makes his speech at the 2009 ESPY Awards.

03/08/10

In this week's swimming news...

1) Big Qualifying Swimming Deals Underway: Want to see a major swimming event hosted inside a 1.2 billion dollar domed-complex capable of holding 80,000 people? According to ESPN.com, Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys and the recently built Cowboys Stadium, is looking to bring swimming to Dallas. “Truthfully, we are looking at possibly doing one of the big qualifying swimming deals here,” Jones said last week. The 2012 Olympic Trials was announced last summer to be held in Omaha, as it was in 2008. While the ’08 Trials were largely considered a success, Jones’ comments certainly intrigue me. The Dallas-Ft. Worth metropolitan population is 6.3 million people (4th largest metropolitan area in the country) and my guess would certainly bring more locals than the city of Omaha (1.2 million people in the city and surrounding areas). While the U.S. Trials didn’t even fill up its capacity in the Qwest Center pool, maybe with a bigger local population, more casual fans would come.

2) Michael Phelps' 2010 Swimming Olympic Predictions: Mel Stewart posted a link earlier today entitled “What Will Michael Phelps Attempt in 2012?” Mel suggested a couple theories, including that Michael might go for a 100m victory. My theory is this: if it was up to Bob Bowman, Michael Phelps would train for the 400 IM. Not just train for it, but give his life for it. If it were entirely up to Bob Bowman (and some may argue that this is the case) his best pupil would live, breath, train, and die by the 400 IM until London 2012. The goal? To set a time NEVER TO BE BROKEN. That’s what I think Bowman wants above all else. And shouldn’t he? Wouldn’t any coach want his swimmer to not only set a world record -- but set a time that could never be broken in the history of swimming? Think about it. I truly think that Bowman would absolutely love to disprove the old adage, “Records are meant to be broken” by setting one in 2012 for all-time. Bowman has given a few quotes, hinting that he’d like Phelps to retry the 400 IM seriously: “That’s a great thing to keep him interested. It’s kind of his legacy,” the coach told Reachforthewall.com. Look. The 400 IM is arguably the hardest event in swimming. It’s all 4 strokes. It’s 4 x 100 sprints, back-to-back-to-back-to-back, of each stroke. The swimmer that wins Olympic gold in this event is generally considered to be the best all-around swimmer. It’s sort of a bragging thing – and no question, Phelps is the only swimmer who could set the world’s greatest world record in the sport’s hardest event. I think that would be the only thing that could motivate Phelps at this point: “Can I set a World Record that could never be broken? And if so, what event would that be? In the Olympic program, the 400 IM is the first event. So if Phelps wanted to go for it, he’d be rested, ready, and in his best shape to swim this event the fastest than compared to an event near the end of an Olympic program when his legs were tired and body exhausted from swimming 20,000 races. He is also physically more suited to set the all-time 400 IM unbreakable record than, say, the 100 free (Phelps is fast in the 100 free, but certainly not a world-record holder. Yet.) I will write a column about this later this week, but for now, it’s fun to brainstorm: “What Would Phelps Do?”

3) Olympic Trials Acceptance Speech by Athletes: The Oscars were last night. Part of the fun (re: the only fun) part of the show, for me, is to watch the acceptance speeches. Emotional, sometimes funny, sometimes crazy (who WAS that woman who grabbed the microphone in the documentary short category in a “Kanye moment”?), I love the speeches because we finally get to see the real faces behind the silver screen. From seeing the “molish writers” (as Robert Downey Jr. referred to them) to the unheralded but extremely overworked sound and editing crews, I enjoy seeing (relatively) unscripted moments in a scripted world. The only thing in swimming that is comparable to this moment, I believe, is in the U.S. Olympic Trials when an athlete accepts the medal (not the post-race, chest heaving, I-can-see-your-boogers TV interview). It is a culmination of a career, in front of an audience, with a microphone and a chance to say anything. That is, until last Olympic Trials in 2008 when interviewer John Naber asked ridiculously offensive questions. So here’s another Big Idea: stop with the awards ceremony interviews. Make the moment about the athlete – not the questions. Give the athlete a microphone, and let him/her say whatever he/she wants to say. I think you’d get a lot more heartfelt responses, funny thank-yous, and see more of a personality behind the athletes – at LEAST it would be better than the awful cringe-fest (and boo-fest) that occurred last Olympic Trials. (Here’s a link to the crazy woman from last night).

4) Swimming Video Of The Week: Last weekend’s 2010 Austin Grand Prix cranked out a lot of fast times. Many people – including those by this website – are choosing Rebecca Soni’s 200 breaststroke (2:22.91) as the “swim of the meet” – and they’d be right. She has the world’s best time this year, and is poised to kick a lot of butt this summer. Other notable times are Matt Grevers’ 100 backstroke (53.05) and Dana Vollmer’s 100 freestyle (54.30).