Australia's precious 175lb piece gold, Eamon Sullivan
World records only last a matter of minutes now. Frenchman Alain Bernard hit the water to shave 0.04 off Eamon Sullivan's two-day old world record in the 100m freestyle semis this morning. Then, five minutes later Eamon Sullivan sliced through the water with an astonishing swim to set a new world record 0.19 seconds under his previous time.
Sullivan proved why he was rated favourite coming into the 100m freestyle setting a blistering time of 47.05 seconds. Everyone was expecting a good performance from the world record holder today but few expected such remarkable swims from the entire field. Matt Targett showed he was on form with a strong swim to take fourth position going into the finals with a time of 47.88 seconds.
Ok we swear we will not talk about this amazing race again -- 4X100M Men Free Finals at the Water Cube. Our fans wanted us to talk about it everyday.
Ambrose Aban:
So anyways, scorching Eamon Sullivan (above) did broke the world record when he plunged in first and touched the wall ahead of Phelps during the relay swim. World records are never an irrelevance, not even in the midst of a Water Cube flood, but it was almost unseemly how Eamon Sullivan's new 100m freestyle mark yesterday was cast into the shadow of the greatest race of the Games so far.
Phil Spencer:
The Australian might have monopolised attention as he scorched through the opening leg of the 4x100m freestyle relay to smash the individual 100m world record, but with almost dismissive haste, focus shifted to lanes four and five where the perfect storm was building over the US and France. After the initial Sullivan onslaught had reduced history's third fastest 100m time by US lead-off swimmer Michael Phelps to the footnotes, the Americans clawed their way into the lead at the end of the second leg, only to surrender it to pre-race favourites France coming into the anchor leg.
Jefferey Johnson:
France at that stage enjoyed a half-second lead, soon to be converted into .82sec by the man whose individual world record Sullivan had just broken, Alain Bernard. It should have been a no-brainer from there because the American swimming against him, Jason Lezak, was carrying more scar tissue than a broken-down boxer. The 32-year-old veteran had seen the gold medal snatched away from him and his US relay team-mates by Ian Thorpe's last-lap heroics on the opening night of the 2000 Sydney Olympics and then South African Ryk Neethling had done the same thing to him in Athens four years later. The weight of those two heartbreaking defeats descended on him as he turned for the last lap and for a moment he contemplated giving up. But then, in one of those moments that a Hollywood director no doubt one day will shoot in slow motion to heart-rending background music, the two-time loser clenched his jaw, climbed up off the canvas and resumed the fight.
Chris Goodridge:
Somebody please cover me. Busy to participate today, thanks QueerGam.
Ambrose Aban:
Well...Lezak veered over to Bernard's lane rope, in part to drag off him but mostly to let the Frenchman know he was there. Even with 25m to go, it still seemed no more than bravado, Lezak fighting valiantly but vainly to the death right under the eyes of his Commander-in-Chief, George W.Bush, who was waving the flag yet again from the stands. Remorselessly, Lezak closed the gap. Bernard, a military gendarme, was in the process of clocking the fourth fastest relay split in history but his position was being overrun. His stroke was becoming rushed, panicky even, and he had good reason to panic. The gold was going, going ... and then it was gone as Lezak lunged for the wall 0.08sec ahead of the distraught Frenchman.
George Tyler:
Also, cover me please. Be back soon. Love your review so far.
Hey Jeff, Eamon Sullivan is mine! Back off buddy!:)
Jefferey Johnson:
Ok dude. He's yours, for now:) Anyways, I remember up on the pooldeck, Phelps celebrated like a man who had just won a million dollars - as indeed he might have because this relay, the weakest leg of his immortal quest for eight golds, could have cost him a fortune. If he achieves his target or even "merely" matches Mark Spitz's seven-gold haul from the 1972 Olympics, his sponsor Speedo has promised to present him with a seven-figure cheque.
Phil Spencer:
The Americans had just obliterated their world record by a gobsmacking four seconds, the French by 3.91sec, the bronze medal-winning Australians by 2.32sec. Oh, and Italy and Sweden broke it, as well. Small wonder that French head coach Claude Fauquet declared the race "the highlight of the Olympics".
Ambrose Aban:
To break a world record by nearly four seconds and not win the gold ... quite a show was put on for everyone. I wouldn't say it was Alain who lost. I would say it was the Americans who won.
Phil Spencer:
So true. With the benefit of hindsight, that epic relay victory at the Sydney Olympics, led off coincidentally by a world-record swim by Michael Klim, was the worst thing to happen to the Australians at that meet. They let their emotions run out of control and never quite got themselves back on an even keel. Indeed, Klim did not even claim a medal in the individual 100m freestyle, a lesson he rammed home to Sullivan when the youngster rang him yesterday to wish him a happy birthday. But Klim had a gold to go with his world record where Sullivan had "only" a bronze. His emotions afterwards were kept well in check.
Ambrose Aban:
Back to hunky and straight Eamon Sullivan of Australia. Eamon and Stephanie Rice (his ex GF) have been featured as the Posh and Becks of Australian Sport. The couple, who split "a couple of weeks ago", met on the Australian team at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, and began their long-distance relationship.
He lives in Perth, she in Brisbane. Asked if it was just a month break and whether they might get back together after the Games, Sullivan said: "You never know what the future holds but we're not thinking about that at the moment. We're just thinking about the month ahead and making sure we do 100 per cent in our preparations and focus on ourselves.
World records only last a matter of minutes now. Frenchman Alain Bernard hit the water to shave 0.04 off Eamon Sullivan's two-day old world record in the 100m freestyle semis this morning. Then, five minutes later Eamon Sullivan sliced through the water with an astonishing swim to set a new world record 0.19 seconds under his previous time.
Sullivan proved why he was rated favourite coming into the 100m freestyle setting a blistering time of 47.05 seconds. Everyone was expecting a good performance from the world record holder today but few expected such remarkable swims from the entire field. Matt Targett showed he was on form with a strong swim to take fourth position going into the finals with a time of 47.88 seconds.
Ok we swear we will not talk about this amazing race again -- 4X100M Men Free Finals at the Water Cube. Our fans wanted us to talk about it everyday.
Ambrose Aban:
So anyways, scorching Eamon Sullivan (above) did broke the world record when he plunged in first and touched the wall ahead of Phelps during the relay swim. World records are never an irrelevance, not even in the midst of a Water Cube flood, but it was almost unseemly how Eamon Sullivan's new 100m freestyle mark yesterday was cast into the shadow of the greatest race of the Games so far.
Phil Spencer:
The Australian might have monopolised attention as he scorched through the opening leg of the 4x100m freestyle relay to smash the individual 100m world record, but with almost dismissive haste, focus shifted to lanes four and five where the perfect storm was building over the US and France. After the initial Sullivan onslaught had reduced history's third fastest 100m time by US lead-off swimmer Michael Phelps to the footnotes, the Americans clawed their way into the lead at the end of the second leg, only to surrender it to pre-race favourites France coming into the anchor leg.
Jefferey Johnson:
France at that stage enjoyed a half-second lead, soon to be converted into .82sec by the man whose individual world record Sullivan had just broken, Alain Bernard. It should have been a no-brainer from there because the American swimming against him, Jason Lezak, was carrying more scar tissue than a broken-down boxer. The 32-year-old veteran had seen the gold medal snatched away from him and his US relay team-mates by Ian Thorpe's last-lap heroics on the opening night of the 2000 Sydney Olympics and then South African Ryk Neethling had done the same thing to him in Athens four years later. The weight of those two heartbreaking defeats descended on him as he turned for the last lap and for a moment he contemplated giving up. But then, in one of those moments that a Hollywood director no doubt one day will shoot in slow motion to heart-rending background music, the two-time loser clenched his jaw, climbed up off the canvas and resumed the fight.
Chris Goodridge:
Somebody please cover me. Busy to participate today, thanks QueerGam.
Ambrose Aban:
Well...Lezak veered over to Bernard's lane rope, in part to drag off him but mostly to let the Frenchman know he was there. Even with 25m to go, it still seemed no more than bravado, Lezak fighting valiantly but vainly to the death right under the eyes of his Commander-in-Chief, George W.Bush, who was waving the flag yet again from the stands. Remorselessly, Lezak closed the gap. Bernard, a military gendarme, was in the process of clocking the fourth fastest relay split in history but his position was being overrun. His stroke was becoming rushed, panicky even, and he had good reason to panic. The gold was going, going ... and then it was gone as Lezak lunged for the wall 0.08sec ahead of the distraught Frenchman.
George Tyler:
Also, cover me please. Be back soon. Love your review so far.
Hey Jeff, Eamon Sullivan is mine! Back off buddy!:)
Jefferey Johnson:
Ok dude. He's yours, for now:) Anyways, I remember up on the pooldeck, Phelps celebrated like a man who had just won a million dollars - as indeed he might have because this relay, the weakest leg of his immortal quest for eight golds, could have cost him a fortune. If he achieves his target or even "merely" matches Mark Spitz's seven-gold haul from the 1972 Olympics, his sponsor Speedo has promised to present him with a seven-figure cheque.
Phil Spencer:
The Americans had just obliterated their world record by a gobsmacking four seconds, the French by 3.91sec, the bronze medal-winning Australians by 2.32sec. Oh, and Italy and Sweden broke it, as well. Small wonder that French head coach Claude Fauquet declared the race "the highlight of the Olympics".
Ambrose Aban:
To break a world record by nearly four seconds and not win the gold ... quite a show was put on for everyone. I wouldn't say it was Alain who lost. I would say it was the Americans who won.
Phil Spencer:
So true. With the benefit of hindsight, that epic relay victory at the Sydney Olympics, led off coincidentally by a world-record swim by Michael Klim, was the worst thing to happen to the Australians at that meet. They let their emotions run out of control and never quite got themselves back on an even keel. Indeed, Klim did not even claim a medal in the individual 100m freestyle, a lesson he rammed home to Sullivan when the youngster rang him yesterday to wish him a happy birthday. But Klim had a gold to go with his world record where Sullivan had "only" a bronze. His emotions afterwards were kept well in check.
Ambrose Aban:
Back to hunky and straight Eamon Sullivan of Australia. Eamon and Stephanie Rice (his ex GF) have been featured as the Posh and Becks of Australian Sport. The couple, who split "a couple of weeks ago", met on the Australian team at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, and began their long-distance relationship.
He lives in Perth, she in Brisbane. Asked if it was just a month break and whether they might get back together after the Games, Sullivan said: "You never know what the future holds but we're not thinking about that at the moment. We're just thinking about the month ahead and making sure we do 100 per cent in our preparations and focus on ourselves.
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