Michael Drake s Top Ten Greatest Swims of 2012

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1 Michael Drake s Top Ten Greatest Swims of 2012 There's much to love about the end of the year; presents, parties and great swimming weather (welcome to Christmas Down Under!). But one of the joys I most look forward to are the many top ten lists. There is no subject too great or too small that it can't be neatly cut and paste into an easily digestible list. And with that in mind I thought I d get on the bandwagon and create my list of the 10 greatest swims of Now I'd like to point out this is a list of the 'greatest' swims of 2012, as opposed to the 'best' swims. The 'best' swims can technically be quantified, whereas the greatest were those swims with a more intangible quality; either they had a larger cultural impact or an athlete s performance simply constituted a more impressive achievement. For instance, compare two excellent swims that didn t make my list: Seto's WR in the 200m breaststroke and Hanson's bronze medal winning swim in the 100. Seto's is clearly the 'better' swim, but if I had to say which of the two was greater I'd go with Hanson. That s because I think it is the greater achievement. For whilst Seto is clearly a star, many stars set WR's at the start of their career, few have been able to come back and medal at the Olympics after an extended retirement. So without further ado, the list: 1. Michael Phelps. 200 Individual Medley, London Olympics (1:54.27). Sure it wasn t the best swim of the year, but it s hard to go past a swim that secures a record yet to be achieved by any male swimmer in over 100 years of Olympic swimming. It s difficult to say what was ultimately the superior achievement, and therefore the greater swim for Phelps; the 100 fly or the 200 IM. Each secured him another record and further decorated his place in history. It was the 100 fly win put him into the unique position of having won two different events at three consecutive Olympics. The 200 IM, on the other hand was the one that crowned him the first ever male to threepeat in any swimming event, therefore making the unique second achievement possible. And of the two the 200 IM was also arguably against a deeper field. And so it is the 200 IM that ultimately resonates more and shows off what is so great about Phelps. After failing to claim a third consecutive Olympic crown in the 400 IM and 200 butterfly, two events he redefined, even Phelps must have had some doubts as to whether he was ever going to stand alone again atop an Olympic dais. But proving his champion qualities he didn t panic. With his great rival next to him he simply took it out hard, and with grit and tenacity held on to hit the wall first. In doing so he was ahead not only of his opposition in the pool that day, but of those who came many years before and those who will come many years after.

2 2. Yannick Agnel. 4*100m Freestyle Relay, London Olympics (46.74). Agnel s 200m win, where he took out 4 of the greatest swimmers in history could also have easily made this list, but it was his relay swim that really set the world alight. In just under 47 seconds Agnel erased France s demons from Beijing and confirmed himself as a bona fide star. Going in over half a second behind Lochte, Agnel had made up just under half the gap by the turn. But it was in the second 50 that the Frenchman really showed his power; coming home a full three quarters of a second faster than the American. Lochte looked rattled after having Agnel blow straight past him and appeared a little shell-shocked for the rest of the meet. You have to create an enormous amount of turbulence to throw off someone as talented and experienced as Lochte, and that is just what the Frenchman did. 3. Chad le Clos. 200 Butterfly, London Olympics (1:52.96). Sure after seeing Phelps fail to even medal in the 400IM everyone knew that he was vulnerable. And given that his conditioning was what seemed to let him down in that event reservations about his ability to take out the crown in one of the most gruelling events seemed justified. But as the race began Phelps looked comfortable. And after that magnificent trade mark turn at the 150 mark put him a full half a length in front of le Clos and Matsuda it looked like a return to the status quo; sure he was a little underdone, but he d done what he had to. Even as his two would be usurpers started to take water off him over the final meters it looked like he was home, the wall was just coming too fast, and after all this is Phelps we are talking about, Phelps. No one touches him out; not Crocker, not Bernard, not Cavic. And yet that is exactly what happened. And that is where le Clos own greatness has to be recognised. To win gold he had to swim down the greatest swimmer in history; making up half a body length in just 50 meters. He had to out touch the greatest technician the sport has ever seen, and he had to set a textile world record to do it. To win an Olympic gold takes a mental strength and self belief most of us probably can t even quite comprehend; to do it against the greatest of all time and your own idol is probably beyond even most gold medallists.

3 4. Allison Schmitt. 200m Freestyle, London Olympics (1:53.61). On a recent Swimming World poll on best swims at the Olympics Schmitt s swim was actually voted behind the performances of Franklin, Ledecky and Soni. And whilst all those performances were incredible, none were done against the level of competition that Schmitt faced. The women s 200m freestyle had the deepest talent pool of all the events at the meet. Like the men s equivalent it had become the middle ground for a number of different eventers. It had the stayers like Muffat and Kylie Palmer stepping down and it had the sprinters like Hemskerk stepping up. It also had, stepping across, those swimmers like Franklin and Sjostrom for whom freestyle was not even their primary stroke. And of course it had those girls who have made the 200 free their playground; reigning Olympic champion Pelagrini and Alison Schmitt. The plethora of talent on the blocks was a mouth watering prospect; a handful of future hallof-famers facing of at the peak of their powers. This would surely be one of the fastest and most fiercely contested 200 freestyles in Olympic history. Well that turned out to be half right. It was certainly the fastest; Schmitt destroyed the OR by over a second. But from the gun it was clear the only fierce contest was in the scrap for the minor medals as Schmitt dismantled the field. We ve seen big wins in Olympic finals before, but rarely have those left in the wake been the calibre of Schmitt s victims here. 5. Missy Franklin. 200 Backstroke, London Olympics (2:04.06). Interested in what the best swim was at the Olympics? You re looking at it. This one right here. According to FINA s IPS points this was the swim that, relative to her peers, was the most superior swim of the Games. Better than Sun, than Agnel, Soni, Volmer and Ledecky. Now that s not necessarily a huge surprise, Franklin is freakishly talented. But to produce her best swim, on the biggest stage, under the amount of scrutiny and pressure that she was; now that is impressive. Justifiably, coming into the Games, much had been written about the young American. She was being compared to Phelps in both the breadth and depth of her talent, she was also taking on a similarly enormous program. But such talk and hyperbole begs the question as to whether the expectations of a rookie 17 year old were too high. Magnussen, the Australian sprint champion, came in with similar expectations and collapsed under their weight. But even if Franklin proved to be mentally up to the task, would her heavy program leave her vulnerable in the distance dorsal, as it had her teammate Lochte? As it turns out the vibrant young star took it all in her stride. Franklin turned in a flawless piece of swimming, leading from start to finish. It is always a joy to watch those swimmers who have the pace to take out a race hard and the endurance to hang on. Franklin never looked under duress; she was clean and fast from gun to wall. And in the process put together one of the great swims of the year.

4 6. Liesel Jones. 100 Breaststroke Semifinal, London Olympics (1:06.81). Sure there were dozens of swims superior to Jones effort in the Olympic Semifinal. You could probably name a dozen swims just in breaststroke alone that were better. But no matter how fast those other swimmers were, they couldn t match Jones feat in making the Olympic final. That is because Liesel became the first swimmer ever to make 4 consecutive Olympic finals in the same event. Leading into the games there had been rumours that Jones was not totally committed to her training regime or to achieving Olympic glory. Her times in the lead up to, and including, the Olympic trials seemed to support this. Even after qualifying Jones at least appeared to be satisfied with merely making the Team; becoming the first Australian swimmer to compete at 4 Olympic Games. As the Games started however the Australian media had published unflattering pictures of the champion calling into question her commitment by highlighting her weight. Jones responded like the champion she is and let her swimming do the talking. After qualifying for the final she freely admitted that she was fired up by the tabloid gossip, using it as motivation to prove them wrong. Unfortunately in the final itself she couldn t quite recapture the form from 12 months earlier, as her 1:06.25 from the 2011 World Championships would have been enough to earn her a bronze and the honour of being the only swimmer to have medalled in the same event at four consecutive Olympics. She would instead have to settle for sharing the honour of only racing in the final on four occasions as another swimmer joined that club a few days later. That swimmer? None other than the incomparable Phelps who matched her efforts in the 200 butterfly; so hardly settling then. 7. Ye Shiwin. 400 Individual Medley, London Olympics (4:28.43). The battle of the sexes. Ever since Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in 1973 the idea that a woman could beat a man at their chosen sport has gained some sense of credibility. But for the most part, these comparisons have been the domain of sports where skill plays a larger role; tennis and golf for example. In swimming however, at most it gave birth to the notion that a woman could at least be more talented, if not quantifiably better than her male counterparts. After all even the most monolithic records by Mary T Meagher and Janet Evans were still well off the male records in the same event. But all that changed over the final 50 meters of the women s 400 IM in London. Shiwin came home in compared to Lochte, the winner of the men s event, who covered the distance in Much has been written to try and justify how Ye came home faster than Lochte, from speculation about her dramatic improvements to pointing out Lochte had front ended his race whilst Ye had back ended hers. Both excuses are unwarranted; Ye must be assumed clean if there is no evidence to suggest otherwise, and Lochte s greatness is not in the least tarnished by the comparison. The fact is a female swimmer covered part of her race faster than her male counterpart in their respective Olympic finals; whichever way you cut it that is a spectacle.

5 8. Camille Muffat. 400 & 800 Freestyle, Mare Nostrum Tour, Canet. (4:02.97, 8:23.60). In her attempt to test different pacings, Muffat went on to produce two of the most exciting swims of the season. She negative split her 400 coming home in an astonishing 1:58.5 and matched that effort in the 800 coming home in 4:04.8. Of course there were better, sharper complete swims later at the Olympics, but Muffat s two swims in Canet are among the most exciting performances in recent memory. What makes the swims so remarkable is that they give a glimpse at the incredible talent that hides behind the sheen of professionalism of a perfectly executed race. Seeing Muffat negative split her two swims, in times that would have won or medalled at every Olympics bar Beijing, gave a kind of behind the scenes look at her talent. It s sort of like seeing Federer mucking around in a charity match; it gives us a better point of reference. We don t know what it s like to face Nadal in a Wimbledon final but we ve all had a casual hit of tennis. By now seeing Federer in a context we have had experience with, a direct point of reference, we can better appreciate the enormity of his talent. So it is with Muffat; most of us can t relate to winning a gold medal at the Olympics, but we can fathom the idea of coming home in the second half of an 800 faster than all our peers can swim a straight 400. And that s just what Muffat did in Canet, and that is why it is awesome. 9. Nathan Adrian. 100 Freestyle, London Olympics (47.52). Not every event has a superstar. The talent pool in every distance and discipline ebbs and flows over time. The 100 freestyle is one of those events that had been without a genuine star since van den Hoogenband (apologies to Cielo). That was until At the World Championships in Shanghai a new star emerged in the form of James Magnussen. Here seemed to be the man to take the 100 free to the next level. Whilst he proved he was able to take out the race in blistering pace and hang on, Magnussen s real trademark was to pull away from the field from about the meter mark. Here he simply decelerated slower than his competitors and cleared away. He was as big a lock as any event in the pool in London. Most competitors wilt against such star power, but Adrian was having none of it. He first crossed swords with Magnussen in the 4*100 free where each swam the first leg. Magnussen blew up under the pressure and the ferocity that comes in an Olympic final and swam nearly a full second off his best time. Adrian however revelled in the challenge swimming his best time ever. Adrian now had the edge for the final, he was in the Australian s head, and he was not going to give up his advantage. Magnussen seemed to have regained some of his mojo as he qualified fastest for the final three tenths of a second faster than second fastest Adrian. But the big question was if he could pull out the big swim when he really needed it. In the final it looked like the answer was yes, as at the 70 meter mark he started to move away. The problem was he didn t get far before Adrian started to go with him. Magnussen looked like he panicked whilst Adrian just continued to fight. They powered stroke for stroke but it was the young American who hit the wall first, winning by the smallest margin possible. But Adrian s win couldn t be measured in distance and time alone; his win had come from heart and sheer determination, and in that contest there was clear water between first and second.

6 10. Cameron van der Burgh. 100 Breaststroke, London Olympics (58.46). If you told a swimming fan before the Games of the amount of ink that would be splashed writing about the aftermath of the 100 meter breaststroke they probably wouldn t have been surprised, after all the event seemed destined for drama. Firstly it featured Kosuke Kitajima s attempt to join one of the most elite clubs in swimming by winning the same event at three consecutive Olympics. But anticipation was not the only spectre that hung over the men s sprint breaststroke. Only weeks earlier the sudden death of the reigning World Champion, Alexander Dale Oen, had shocked the swimming world. But as the whitewash from the final settled it was neither of these stories that had generated the burst of media interest in the event. It was the frank admission from gold medal winner, Cameron van der Burgh, that in winning the event he had deliberately broken the rules. That is; he cheated. Review of the swim confirmed that van der Burgh had indeed taken extra illegal fly kicks off the start; the white water from his dive hiding it from the officials. Swim fans were rightly outraged and demanded he be stripped of his medal. But adding further drama; the footage also revealed he was not the only swimmer to take such liberties. A final layer of complexity to the saga was the fact that review of video footage is not sanctioned by FINA. All decisions stand and fall based on what the officials are able to see first hand. Therefore, despite there being footage confirming van der Burgh s admission, FINA had no recourse to strip him of his medal. The question therefore became could van der Burgh be stripped because of his admission thereby implicitly rewarding those who also cheated but stayed stum? Ultimately it was a can of worms FINA did not want to open and, as of now, van der Burgh and his medal are safe. FINA is however now being forced to at least reconsider their position on video review. So for a performance to set in motion potential changes within its own governing body and for inciting a debate on the morality of action vs. intention, van der Burgh s 100 meter breaststroke is certainly one of the greatest swims of the year.

Caeleb Dressel (USA) I don t want to be compared to Michael

Published on fina.org - Official FINA website (//www.fina.org) Caeleb Dressel (USA) I don t want to be compared to Michael Gregory Eggert, FINA Media Committee Honorary Secretary (USA) Five years ago Caeleb