Irvine511
Blue Crack Supplier
Lots of ego driven athletes say "I'm gonna smash my opponent and win" (Muhammad Ali, for one).
absolutely.
yet, you think Phelps is an "ass" when he celebrates a thrilling, come-from-behind win?
i do want to say, however, after reading through some of the comments on various websites that the amount of anti-French comments -- nation of chokers/cheese-eating surrender monkeys -- are inappropriate. the French swam a tremendous race.
they were beaten, but by a team that outswam them. it wasn't "luck" that Lezak drafted on the first lap, nor was it "luck" that Bernard went out too fast the first lap (which Lezak knew, and didn't panic, and knew Bernard would tie up the last 25 meters). there's no question that Bernard's wake pulled Lezak along the first lap, though by the second lap Bernard was clearly in the middle of the pool.
if you are an experienced swimmer who has competed at the international level for 8 years like Lezak, you know how much strategy goes into these races, and you know that if you are behind you need to use the wake, just like if you are behind at the turn, especially if you are behind the field at the turn, you need to stay under water a little bit longer so you don't hit a wall of water.
all these swimmers *know* what they are doing, just like Duncan Armstrong knew what he was doing when he surfed off Matt Biondi in 1988 to win the 200 free.
there's very little luck here at all.