Record-timer, old-timer
OMAHA, Neb. – Hours before Michael Phelps leapt into the pool Friday to put a hammerlock on his fourth individual Olympic berth, Mark Spitz stopped by to dissect the two-time Olympian’s chances of breaking the hallowed record he set in Munich 36 years ago.
Based on Spitz’s “suspicion,” he’s preparing himself for the inevitable and is ready to step aside.
“I would expect in a month from now, we’ll see him win by margins and set times never seen before,” Spitz said. “He’ll be unbelievable. … This is going to be history. He’s going to do a little bit of schooling to the rest of the world.”
School is already in session, and Phelps is using the Qwest Center as his personal classroom.
Phelps added one more event to his grueling schedule in Beijing by holding off Ryan Lochte and winning the 200-meter individual medley in world-record time of 1 minute, 54.80 seconds. Lochte, who moments earlier finished second to Aaron Peirsol in the 200 backstroke by two-hundredths of a second, followed in 1:55.22.
Every race Phelps has completed – the 400 IM, 200 freestyle, 200 butterfly, 200 IM – is becoming a part of his upcoming quest to break Spitz’s record-setting seven-gold-medal haul from the 1972 Olympics. If the results in Omaha are any indicator, things are shaping up quite nicely for Beijing.
“I’m definitely satisfied where I am right now,” Phelps said. “I’m just happy to be doing best times. This is the part I love the most. I love to race.”
He’s not the only one. Peirsol tied Lochte’s world record in the men’s 200 backstroke (1:54.32), and at 41 years old, Dara Torres qualified for her fifth Olympic team by winning the women’s 100 freestyle final in 53.78. Natalie Coughlin, the American record holder in the event, captured her third Olympic berth in an individual race with a second-place finish (53.83).
Torres is the first American swimmer older than 40, male or female, to make the Olympic team.
“I’m ecstatic,” she said. “I can’t believe it. It’s bittersweet. I made my fifth Olympic team, but I’m going to be away from my (2-year-old daughter Tessa) for a whole month.”
Emily Silver and Julia Smit also qualified as part of the 400 freestyle relay team, thanks to their fifth- and sixth-place finishes.
Phelps just missed matching Spitz’s longstanding record when he won six gold medals at the 2004 Athens Olympics. According to Spitz, the passage of time has set him up well to come through in August.
“I would say that he’s got a great chance of doing it, maybe even a better chance (than four years ago),” Spitz said. “I’m hoping to pass the baton to someone else. In some ways, I say to myself, ‘Hey, it’s OK.’ Records are made to be broken, including mine. Thirty-six years is a long time. It’s OK. Really.”
The stage is set for a thrilling men’s 50 freestyle final today. Cullen Jones set an American record in his preliminary swim, plowing to the wall in 21.59 and breaking the mark of 21.76 that Gary Hall Jr. set in 2000.
“Everyone anticipated that record was going down,” Hall Jr. said. “There is too much fast swimming in the world. Records don’t last, especially these days.”
Should Jones turn in a first- or second-place finish today, he’ll become just the second African American to qualify for the Olympics in an individual event. Anthony Ervin was the first. Of course, doing so means maneuvering a loaded field that features Ben Wildman-Tobriner, Garrett Weber-Gale and Hall Jr., the two-time defending Olympic champion in the event.
Wildman-Tobriner led all swimmers in the semifinals with a 21.65 swim. Nathan Adrian was seventh in 22.03 and also advanced.