Most of you know by now that Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte did not qualify in the fashion they were expected for the 400 IM. Some of you may even know the outcome of the final race by now. I'm trying my best to stay off news sites and social media so that results don't get spoiled for me.
The headline this morning was that Phelps had "barely" qualified for one of his best races. First of all, this made it sound like he didn't win his heat and was lucky claim the eighth spot. Not true. Lucky? Maybe. But he won his heat, he just didn't post a great time, which he knew. And it's important to note that he still beat everyone in the pool with him.
Lochte also won his heat and ended up qualifying third. He also said that he was not happy with his performance. Remember that these qualifying heats were also the first races for them this entire Olympics and they were possibly even conserving some energy (maybe too much) for tonight.
Neither Lochte or Phelps will swim in the best lanes for the race and will be far apart from each other. I may end up being wrong, but I think this race is now going to be even better than could have ever been advertised.
Do you think there could be anything more motivating for Phelps than almost missing the chance to defend his Olympic title? And Lochte, who is the reigning world champion, is not in the position he wants to be going into the final. If it were me, I'd say, "Oh well." But that's why I'm not an athlete. I think this final is going to be amazing to watch. I just have to hope no one spoils it for me in the next few hours.
No comments:
Post a Comment