Summer Paris 2024 - Swimming

[RussellEbertHandball]

Well, their tips are often wrong.

And half the time they seem to use controversial click-bait titles to stir up comments and arguments.

I decided to check their 2021 Tokyo predictions.

Women's events they correctly picked 11 of the 17 gold medal winners.
1 event the swimmer they tipped to win, won silver and 3 they tipped to win, won bronze. The ones they completely missed was China in the 4x200m, but we have found out since that is very suspicious and they didn't tip Emma McKeon to win a medal in the 50m Free. Tipped Cate Campbell to win it instead.

They correctly tipped 7 of the 17 silver medallists, and 1 of their silver tips won gold and 2 of their tips won bronze.

They correctly tipped 5 of the 17 bronze medallists, and 2 of their bronze tip won gold and 4 of their tips won bronze.

Every event they got at least 1 medallist in their top 3 and 4 they got 100% order right and 2 more they got the right 3 medallists.

A few times they got the right country but wrong athlete from that country in both women's and men's.

I doubt anyone can do much better than that.

The men's was tougher and they only correctly picked 8 of the 17 gold medal winners.
4 they tipped to win, won silver and 1 they tipped to win, won bronze.

The 4 they missed were 400/800/1500m Freestyle events and the 200IM.

They correctly tipped 6 of the 17 silver medallists, and 2 of their silver tips won gold and 1 of their tips won bronze.

They correctly tipped 3 of the 17 bronze medallists, and 2 of their bronze tip won gold and 2 of their tips won bronze.

They had 2 events they didn't pick any medallist the 400m Free and 200IM. 2 events they got the oder of all 3 medalists right and 1 event they had all 3 but got the order wrong.

The mixed relay they didn't pick gold medal Great Britain to win a medal.

The blokes events were more open and harder to predict in Tokyo and I reckon the same thing will happen in Paris.

Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games: Official SwimSwam Preview Index

How many medals will Caeleb Dressel win at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games? SwimSwam's staff picks all of the races for this summer's big meet.

swimswam.com

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

BBC swimming commentator and former Olympic butterfly swimer Andy Jameson has his first look at the constructed pool at the swimming venue La Defense Arena.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Unfortunately these games just are terrible with time differences. I’ll watch some of the finals probably the ones with Katie in there interest me the most but I’ll watch the big 200m live though

 

[Royces Hart]

With no Basil commentating, who will tell us that every Aussie is off to a good start?

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

With no Basil commentating, who will tell us that every Aussie is off to a good start?

He might not talk so much about the starts, but 9's Mat Thompson will let you know when every Aussie is inching towards the leader.

 

[Royces Hart]

He might not talk so much about the starts, but 9's Mat Thompson will let you know when every Aussie is inching towards the leader.

But will he call turns “the bend?”

 

[GreyCrow]

I miss Norman May

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

I miss Norman May

IMHO the best coverage of swimming at Olympics and Comm Games and at a couple of world championships in Oz, since the early 90's was the ABC Radio team of;

1 Gerry Collins as the race caller, and
2 Norm May who could delve back to 1956 Olympics, and
3 Rob Woodhouse - 1984 400m IM bronze medallist and only Aussie male IM medallist until Tokyo, when Brendon Smith joined him with bronze in the 400m IM, so Rob could talk about each stroke with a lot of knowledge, plus being based in UK and having set up sports management company ESP with Craig Kelly, knew the swimming industry, managed some swimmers in Europe, and knew the big swimmers in Europe and what they had been doing, and
4 Susie O'Neill who was the just finished swimmer when she joined them for the Comm Games in 2002 and went from being nervous talker and nervous for all the Aussie swimmers, to being really insightful the longer she went.

They broke up the band after 2010 Comm Games. Gerard Whateley took over from Gerry calling the races, and he still regularly talks to Rob Woodhouse about swimming, who returned to Oz in February to become CEO of Swimming Australia. They had a great interview on SEN in May which I linked in the Oz swimming trials thread.

I'm pretty sure Norman's last Games were London in 2012, he passed away a month after Rio in 2016, and Rob and Susie went to Rio with Gerard. Then Covid hit and ABC cost cutting meant they didn't call Tokyo.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Lucky lane 5 for the men's 100m Free.

The Last Five Men's 100 Free Olympic Champions Have All Come From Lane 5

Rio Olympic champion Kyle Chalmers--the only Olympic champion returning to the Paris field--won gold from lane 5, like every men's 100 free winner since 2004.

swimswam.com

Location, location, location. It’s everything in real estate and it’s everything in the Olympic final of the men’s 100 freestyle.

Since 2004, the Olympic champion in the men’s 100 freestyle has come from lane five. That streak includes the likes of Caeleb Dressel (Tokyo), Kyle Chalmers (Rio), Nathan Adrian (London), Alain Bernard (Beijing), and Pieter van den Hoogenband (Athens). For all except van den Hoogenband, the win marked each’s first individual Olympic gold.

The lane five streak is now 20 years old and you have to go back even further in history to find an Olympic champion in this race who didn’t swim in either middle lane for the final. In 1984, Rowdy Gaines won his title from lane three—practically outside smoke in this race.

........

 

[AdelaideGT]

I miss Norman May

Norman - God love him - hardly had a clue what he was talking about. He was always enthusiastic and patriotic - but had hardly ever done any research.

Luckily about 1980 the baton was passed on to Bruce McAvaney.

 

[Satan]

Wtf is this australian swim coach helping a south korean swimmer?
If he was eddie the eel fair enough

 

[Kram]

The lane five streak is now 20 years old and you have to go back even further in history to find an Olympic champion in this race who didn’t swim in either middle lane for the final. In 1984, Rowdy Gaines won his title from lane three—practically outside smoke in this race.

Didn't hurt having prior knowledge that the idiot starter liked to fire the gun early, in saying that he would've won anyway.

 

[danielnajdek]

I must of been living under a rock but I just heard about the Chinese swimmers and drug scandal from the Tokyo Olympics. I remember watching that 4x200m relay and thinking something fishy was up but everyone who even mentioned drugs and Chinese swimmers got shot down instantly. If I remember correctly all 4 swam like 2 seconds or faster then they ever have in that final.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Didn't hurt having prior knowledge that the idiot starter liked to fire the gun early, in saying that he would've won anyway.

Yeah Rowdy still would have won, beat Mark Stockwell by 0.44sec, the reaction time wasn't that great a difference, but that whole having such a quick starter was very poor for an swimming blue riband Olympics final.

Don't be surprised if Mark Stockwell becomes CEO of Brisbane OCOG if the LNP wins the election as is expected.

He's swimming royalty, married 3 time LA games USA gold medallist Tracey Caulkins, got into construction and property development and investment after his swimming career, with his family company, supposedly is worth over $100m, is a big LNP supporter and ran against Ian Chesterman for the presidency of the AOC when John Coates stood down in May 2022.

He also was chair of the committee that won the hosting rights for 2018 Comm Games on the Gold Coast. Has been President of the Queensland Division of the Property Council of Australia and served on the National Board, was a former Deputy Chair of Australian Sports Commission and currently is Chair of the Australian Sports Foundation whose purpose is to raise money for the development of sport in Australia via tax deductible donations, but AFL clubs use the system to raise lots of funds for both facilities development as well as general revenue.

He also was the inaugural Chairman of Trade and Investment QLD, the Queensland Government’s foreign investment and export program.

Given construction costs will be a huge ongoing issue for the next 8 years, he might be the bloke to work closely with a new government on it and stop blow outs. He's someone you know would understand the need of sports community, and know how to control costs.

I always scoffed at the notion that Gillon McLachlan would get the job because he worked closely with the Palaszczuk government during the 2020 Covid season. He's not a Queenslander! But Caroline Wilson and others often pushed it.

I've know for a long time the only thing stopping Stockwell being asked to take on the job as CEO is politics. A Labor government wouldn't want him appointed to the role, and I don't think Coates was happy that he challenged his preferred candidate Ian Chesterman, for the AOC presidency

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

One more thing about Stockwell, is that relatively new CEO of Swimming Oz, his 1984 Olympic teammate Rob Woodhouse, has said that he will lobby Brisbane for a legacy pool venue and try and get around the proposed temporary pool at the to be constructed, new Roma Street indoor arena.

If Stockwell gets the BOCOG CEO's job, that may be a possibility.

 

[raskolnikov]

I'm not a fan of the way the media are building up the women swimmers, in particular Titmus. Has all the makings of an epic backfire.

 

[Kram]

I'm not a fan of the way the media are building up the women swimmers, in particular Titmus. Has all the makings of an epic backfire.

Nobody is unbeatable but she's won gold before and is swimming even better, will take something special to get past her.

It's not like say pumping up say a world record holder but unproven under OG pressure.

 

[toxic]

I'm not a fan of the way the media are building up the women swimmers, in particular Titmus. Has all the makings of an epic backfire.

What would you prefer?

We should hype our best - they thrive on it .

It's why they're champions

 

[raskolnikov]

What would you prefer?

Keeping a lid on it.

 

[toxic]

Keeping a lid on it.

No thanks

 

[Sydney Kicker]

I'm not a fan of the way the media are building up the women swimmers, in particular Titmus. Has all the makings of an epic backfire.

I wouldn't worry - not just an oz thing. Reading a US article about the womens 400m free on the web - it was all about can Ledecky the GOAT get the better of the incredible prodigy Summer Mackintosh. Then at the end they casually mentioned Titmus was the WR holder and will be hard to beat too.

 

[GreyCrow]

I'm not a fan of the way the media are building up the women swimmers, in particular Titmus. Has all the makings of an epic backfire.

Thats on the media - as long as they all swim to their best at the moment it doesnt matter where they finish

 

[Royces Hart]

Are any of our swimmers featuring in Swisse ads?

We know how that turns out.

 

[raskolnikov]

I wouldn't worry - not just an oz thing. Reading a US article about the womens 400m free on the web - it was all about can Ledecky the GOAT get the better of the incredible prodigy Summer Mackintosh. Then at the end they casually mentioned Titmus was the WR holder and will be hard to beat too.

Yanks will be Yanks.