Irvine511
Blue Crack Supplier
Obviously you know a shitload more about swimming than I do, but I'm not clear how that rebuts two of the article's points that struck me as pretty decent: 1. Lochte at that stage of the race didn't have to go all-out to win (and when he did in another race, he beat her time) while she did, and 2. other male swimmers did swim the freestyle leg of the 400 IM faster than she did, but all the attention has been on the Lochte comparison. How come you don't think those points are valid?
go back and look at her split vs the other women, and then vs the other men:
Ye Shiwen (CHN) 58.68
Beisel (USA) 102.33
Xuanxu (CHN) 101.58
Hosszu (HUN) 102.66
Hannah (GBR) 102.97
Rice (AUS) 103.98
Leverenz (USA) 104.45
Garcia (ESP) 102.91
Men
Lochte (USA) 58.65
Pereira (BRA) 59.70
Hagino (JPN) 58.20
Phelps (USA) 58.32
Le Clos (RSA) 59.15
Horihata (JPN) 57.58
Fraser-Holmes (AUS) 58.13
Marin (ITA) 100.12 (59.22p)
so she was 3+ seconds faster than any other woman, and she outsplit the men's silver medalist Pereira, Lo Close, and Marin. she was within a half second of Phelps and Lochte and the bronze medalist.
all these swimmers had swum the same grueling race. none of her other splits would be even remotely competitive with the men *except* for her closing freestyle, in which she was right in the middle of the pack. and that's what's so weird.
the other point about Lochte going all out in freestyle is where the author doesn't know swimming. he was looking at Lochte's 100 free split off the relay. he was only swimming 100m. of course that's going to be enormously faster than a 100 swum at the end of a 400 IM where you are fatigued. had Ye swum a solo 100 on a relay she would have been much faster than her final 400IM split as well ... however, and this is what makes it weirder, she wouldn't have been close to Lochte in a flat-out 100m, which makes her matching him in the final 100 all that much more strange. for the author to make it sound like Lochte was coasting and/or holding back and that explains it doesn't make any sense.
it's not like Lochte coasted the free in the IM, he swam it well, and it was a typical, expected split in line with his other competitors. Ye's split was out of this world, and i believe i've seen that the fastest previous final 100 split was Stephanie Rice in 2008 who came back in 1:00.9, which was considered insanely good at the time (and was suit-assisted).
on another note .... given how wild and crazy these Olympics have been, how quickly favorites fall, how many countries win medals now, how younger swimmers rise up, how difficult it is to repeat ... it makes Phelps in 2008 look all that much more extraordinary.
i'm very nervous for him tonight. i'd love to see a man finally three-peat.