I'm lovin' it.
Videos from a post-race press conference & two articles after the cut.
And my favorite:
Phelps. U.S. relay team steal spotlight at record-setting worlds
ROME -- Sacre bleu. The U.S. relay team fricasseed and flambéed the French again. On a night when six world records fell in seven events at the FINA world championships in Rome, the race that didn't produce one nevertheless held a headline. This was France's chance to undo the choke of Beijing, when Jason Lezak chased down Alain Bernard in the final strokes to keep Michael Phelps' bid for eight golds alive and reduce French boasting to a fine dice. Instead, a completely revamped U.S. quartet of Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Matt Grevers and newcomer Nathan Adrian held off the field to bring home another relay gold. The heavily favored French struggled to third behind the surprise silver medalists from Russia. Yes, put the Euros on the line and the French wade the waters like escargot. "Tonight, the Americans were better than us," said relay member Fred Bousquet. "Some days you have it; some days you don't."
Phelps led off for the U.S. team and didn't swim his best leg, pulling into third in 47.78 seconds. "The best thing about tonight's race," said U.S. head coach Bob Bowman, "is that the other guys carried Michael. We needed the others to step up."
That included Lochte, who often follows Phelps in 200-meter legs of the 800-meter relay, a distance that better suits him. Lochte went head-to-head against Bernard, a surprising choice to swim the second leg. "I looked to my left and saw Bernard and he's like seven feet tall," Lochte said in exaggeration. "I was like, how am I going to swim against this guy?" Instead, Lochte aced the challenge, speeding by in 47.03 seconds and keeping the U.S. team in the hunt, half a stroke behind the French. After Grevers put together a 47.61, it left Adrian, the new kid on the swim blocks to get off them quickly. "I felt like a child among men," Adrian said afterwards. "They threw me on the last leg and I had a lot of pressure on me."
Bowman made the call on that, sensing that Adrian, 20, is the team's future, especially with Lezak, 33, in Israel honoring his Jewish heritage at the Maccabiah Games. "He has to get used to it some point," Bowman said of the anchor assignment. "He's very tough and strong under pressure. He keeps his wits about him. If he's going to be in that position, this is a good place for him to start."
Adrian swam a 46.79 anchor, a full .63 seconds faster than Bousquet over the last 100 meters. He punched the water in his excitement, spraying the Frenchman, who may not have noticed. Earlier in the month, Bousquet and Bernard criticized Phelps for not swimming the open 100 meters in Rome, because, they suggested, he might have been afraid to face them. It was the same sort of talk we heard from the French before their ill-fated relay effort in Beijing, and talk has a way of biting them on the derriere.
[ Sports Illustrated ]
Adrian fills Lezak's role in another U.S. relay comeback
Sun Jul 26, 2009 By Alan Abrahamson / Universal Sports
Michael Phelps and his U.S. teammates topped France in the 4x100m freestyle relay, just as they did at the Beijing Olympics.
By: Getty Images
Michael Phelps and his U.S. teammates topped France in the 4x100m freestyle relay, just as they did at the Beijing Olympics.
ROME -- Underdogs again, to the French. Just as they were in Beijing.
And winners again. Just as they were in Beijing.
It never gets old, does it?
With 20-year-old Nathan Adrian reprising the stirring and starring Jason Lezak role, the U.S. men's 400-meter freestyle relay team won gold here Sunday at the 2009 world championships, a race in which Michael Phelps, leading off, put down a solid time but one that left him personally "a little disappointed" and the other three -- Adrian, Matt Grevers and Ryan Lochte -- swam indisputably great. Adrian went 46.79, by far the fastest anchor leg on the night.
The French? They choked like chiens, as one might say in Paris and as the French papers are sure to point out in Monday's editions. Again.
Actually, the French -- who have had a year to live with the sting of losing by just that much to the U.S. team in Beijing, who this season had been dominating the relays leading into this race, who by most accounts were favored to win here handily Sunday night -- didn’t even take second.
They got third, behind the Russians.
On a night in which six world records fell, the 400 free relay world record -- 3:08.24, set by the Americans in Beijing -- held firm. The U.S. team did set a world championships record, 3:09.21. The Russians, with up-and-coming sensation Danila Izotov swimming the third leg, finished in 3:09.52. The French? 3:09.89.
"We didn't come here to chase the bronze medal. But there are some days you have it and some days you don't. Tonight," said Frederick Bousquet, who swam the French anchor, "the Americans were just better than us."
Actually -- pretty much every night at every major meet for past several years.
The U.S. team won this 400 free relay in 2008 at the Olympics and at 2007 and 2005 at the world championships. It is a major focus of the American program after being humbled at the Games in Athens in 2004 (bronze) and in Sydney in 2000 (silver). In each of these winning races Phelps has pulled the lead-off leg.
The incredible thing about Sunday's effort is that Phelps is the only constant from 2008 -- underscoring the tremendous depth of the U.S. men's program.
In Beijing, it was Phelps leading off, Garrett Weber-Gale second, Cullen Jones third, Lezak at the anchor.
Here in Rome, it was Phelps leading off, followed by Lochte, Grevers, Adrian.
"Coming into tonight," Phelps said, "we were coming off last year's relay -- that was one of the most exciting races I've ever been on. Coming into tonight, we pretty much had a whole new relay. It's the first time for all of us to swim together. I think tonight we came together well as a team. We swam as Team USA."
Lezak, who is now 33, opted this summer to swim in Israel, at the Maccabiah Games, in part to connect with his Jewish heritage. He's still got it - he swam 47.78 to win the men's 100 free at those Games, which are sometimes referred to as the "Jewish Olympics."
Weber-Gale and Jones swam in Sunday's prelims here. Both acknowledged afterward via Twitter that Grevers -- who also swam in the morning, with the fastest time, 47.55 -- deserved the one finals spot available out of the prelim, Phelps, Lochte and Adrian having sewn up the other three.
"Poor swim," Weber-Gale said in his Tweet. "... led off in 48.3. Not my best year. No finals swim for me. Very disappointed. Time now to continue being a good teammate."
"47.6 great swim very happy with it ... Grevers went 47.55 so he is on the night relay ... gearing up for the 50 ... GO USA!" Jones said in his Tweet.
Phelps, like Lezak in Israel, swam 47.78 leading off.
The casual fan might have thought Phelps looked slow. He was not; his American record is 47.50. Brazil's Cesar Cielo went a crazy fast 47.09 Sunday night, just four-hundredths off the world record. France's Fabien Gillot went 47.73.
Cielo, after the morning swims, had been among those predicting a victory at night for France. "I think France this year are untouchable," he said, even predicting a "big window between first and second place."
Whoops. This is why, as they say, they swim the races.
After 100 meters Sunday night, the Americans stood third. Last year in Beijing, after Phelps' lead-off leg, the Americans were second. "Michael got them close enough to be in the race," Bob Bowman, Phelps' longtime coach, who is doubling here as the U.S. men's head coach, said Sunday night.
After 200 in Beijing, the Americans were first. Here, third. But not because Lochte swam poorly. Hardly. He went 47.03 -- from a flying start, of course. At the same time, France’s Alain Bernard went 46.46, the night’s fastest split.
Bernard, of course, is the one Lezak overtook last summer in Beijing.
Remember, though, that after 300 in Beijing, the Americans had slipped to second. Here, they had moved up to second, Grevers going 47.61.
This third leg is the one that here in Rome did in the French. Gregory Mallet went a comparatively pedestrian 48.28.
After 300, the Russians, behind Izotov, were in first. They dove in: Alexander Sukhorukov for the Russians, Adrian. Bousquet for the French.
The thing is, the Americans, in Lane 6, next to the French in Lane 5, had no idea what the Russians were doing over there in Lane 8, on the outside.
Swim insiders, meanwhile, have long had an eye out for Adrian. He swam in the prelims of that history-making 400 free relay in Beijing; before those Games, he had trained in South Florida with coach Mike Bottom and a stable of sprint stars that included Gary Hall Jr. Now he attends the University of California at Berkeley. He is, Bowman said, "the future of our relays."
Even so, Adrian acknowledged afterward, looking around on the deck Sunday night, "I kind of felt like a child among men."
His performance Sunday night, however: manly, indeed. A breakout. “I was confident with him on the blocks,” Phelps said of Adrian. “He has been coming up a lot the last year or two.”
"Awesome swim!!!" Adrian’s mom, Cecila, said in an e-mail note, and it was.
Or, as Lochte put it in his trademark victory call, one the French just don’t get: "Jeah!"
[ Universal Sports ]
Click to viewAnd my favorite:
Phelps. U.S. relay team steal spotlight at record-setting worlds
ROME -- Sacre bleu. The U.S. relay team fricasseed and flambéed the French again. On a night when six world records fell in seven events at the FINA world championships in Rome, the race that didn't produce one nevertheless held a headline. This was France's chance to undo the choke of Beijing, when Jason Lezak chased down Alain Bernard in the final strokes to keep Michael Phelps' bid for eight golds alive and reduce French boasting to a fine dice. Instead, a completely revamped U.S. quartet of Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Matt Grevers and newcomer Nathan Adrian held off the field to bring home another relay gold. The heavily favored French struggled to third behind the surprise silver medalists from Russia. Yes, put the Euros on the line and the French wade the waters like escargot. "Tonight, the Americans were better than us," said relay member Fred Bousquet. "Some days you have it; some days you don't."
Phelps led off for the U.S. team and didn't swim his best leg, pulling into third in 47.78 seconds. "The best thing about tonight's race," said U.S. head coach Bob Bowman, "is that the other guys carried Michael. We needed the others to step up."
That included Lochte, who often follows Phelps in 200-meter legs of the 800-meter relay, a distance that better suits him. Lochte went head-to-head against Bernard, a surprising choice to swim the second leg. "I looked to my left and saw Bernard and he's like seven feet tall," Lochte said in exaggeration. "I was like, how am I going to swim against this guy?" Instead, Lochte aced the challenge, speeding by in 47.03 seconds and keeping the U.S. team in the hunt, half a stroke behind the French. After Grevers put together a 47.61, it left Adrian, the new kid on the swim blocks to get off them quickly. "I felt like a child among men," Adrian said afterwards. "They threw me on the last leg and I had a lot of pressure on me."
Bowman made the call on that, sensing that Adrian, 20, is the team's future, especially with Lezak, 33, in Israel honoring his Jewish heritage at the Maccabiah Games. "He has to get used to it some point," Bowman said of the anchor assignment. "He's very tough and strong under pressure. He keeps his wits about him. If he's going to be in that position, this is a good place for him to start."
Adrian swam a 46.79 anchor, a full .63 seconds faster than Bousquet over the last 100 meters. He punched the water in his excitement, spraying the Frenchman, who may not have noticed. Earlier in the month, Bousquet and Bernard criticized Phelps for not swimming the open 100 meters in Rome, because, they suggested, he might have been afraid to face them. It was the same sort of talk we heard from the French before their ill-fated relay effort in Beijing, and talk has a way of biting them on the derriere.
[ Sports Illustrated ]
Adrian fills Lezak's role in another U.S. relay comeback
Sun Jul 26, 2009 By Alan Abrahamson / Universal Sports
Michael Phelps and his U.S. teammates topped France in the 4x100m freestyle relay, just as they did at the Beijing Olympics.
By: Getty Images
Michael Phelps and his U.S. teammates topped France in the 4x100m freestyle relay, just as they did at the Beijing Olympics.
ROME -- Underdogs again, to the French. Just as they were in Beijing.
And winners again. Just as they were in Beijing.
It never gets old, does it?
With 20-year-old Nathan Adrian reprising the stirring and starring Jason Lezak role, the U.S. men's 400-meter freestyle relay team won gold here Sunday at the 2009 world championships, a race in which Michael Phelps, leading off, put down a solid time but one that left him personally "a little disappointed" and the other three -- Adrian, Matt Grevers and Ryan Lochte -- swam indisputably great. Adrian went 46.79, by far the fastest anchor leg on the night.
The French? They choked like chiens, as one might say in Paris and as the French papers are sure to point out in Monday's editions. Again.
Actually, the French -- who have had a year to live with the sting of losing by just that much to the U.S. team in Beijing, who this season had been dominating the relays leading into this race, who by most accounts were favored to win here handily Sunday night -- didn’t even take second.
They got third, behind the Russians.
On a night in which six world records fell, the 400 free relay world record -- 3:08.24, set by the Americans in Beijing -- held firm. The U.S. team did set a world championships record, 3:09.21. The Russians, with up-and-coming sensation Danila Izotov swimming the third leg, finished in 3:09.52. The French? 3:09.89.
"We didn't come here to chase the bronze medal. But there are some days you have it and some days you don't. Tonight," said Frederick Bousquet, who swam the French anchor, "the Americans were just better than us."
Actually -- pretty much every night at every major meet for past several years.
The U.S. team won this 400 free relay in 2008 at the Olympics and at 2007 and 2005 at the world championships. It is a major focus of the American program after being humbled at the Games in Athens in 2004 (bronze) and in Sydney in 2000 (silver). In each of these winning races Phelps has pulled the lead-off leg.
The incredible thing about Sunday's effort is that Phelps is the only constant from 2008 -- underscoring the tremendous depth of the U.S. men's program.
In Beijing, it was Phelps leading off, Garrett Weber-Gale second, Cullen Jones third, Lezak at the anchor.
Here in Rome, it was Phelps leading off, followed by Lochte, Grevers, Adrian.
"Coming into tonight," Phelps said, "we were coming off last year's relay -- that was one of the most exciting races I've ever been on. Coming into tonight, we pretty much had a whole new relay. It's the first time for all of us to swim together. I think tonight we came together well as a team. We swam as Team USA."
Lezak, who is now 33, opted this summer to swim in Israel, at the Maccabiah Games, in part to connect with his Jewish heritage. He's still got it - he swam 47.78 to win the men's 100 free at those Games, which are sometimes referred to as the "Jewish Olympics."
Weber-Gale and Jones swam in Sunday's prelims here. Both acknowledged afterward via Twitter that Grevers -- who also swam in the morning, with the fastest time, 47.55 -- deserved the one finals spot available out of the prelim, Phelps, Lochte and Adrian having sewn up the other three.
"Poor swim," Weber-Gale said in his Tweet. "... led off in 48.3. Not my best year. No finals swim for me. Very disappointed. Time now to continue being a good teammate."
"47.6 great swim very happy with it ... Grevers went 47.55 so he is on the night relay ... gearing up for the 50 ... GO USA!" Jones said in his Tweet.
Phelps, like Lezak in Israel, swam 47.78 leading off.
The casual fan might have thought Phelps looked slow. He was not; his American record is 47.50. Brazil's Cesar Cielo went a crazy fast 47.09 Sunday night, just four-hundredths off the world record. France's Fabien Gillot went 47.73.
Cielo, after the morning swims, had been among those predicting a victory at night for France. "I think France this year are untouchable," he said, even predicting a "big window between first and second place."
Whoops. This is why, as they say, they swim the races.
After 100 meters Sunday night, the Americans stood third. Last year in Beijing, after Phelps' lead-off leg, the Americans were second. "Michael got them close enough to be in the race," Bob Bowman, Phelps' longtime coach, who is doubling here as the U.S. men's head coach, said Sunday night.
After 200 in Beijing, the Americans were first. Here, third. But not because Lochte swam poorly. Hardly. He went 47.03 -- from a flying start, of course. At the same time, France’s Alain Bernard went 46.46, the night’s fastest split.
Bernard, of course, is the one Lezak overtook last summer in Beijing.
Remember, though, that after 300 in Beijing, the Americans had slipped to second. Here, they had moved up to second, Grevers going 47.61.
This third leg is the one that here in Rome did in the French. Gregory Mallet went a comparatively pedestrian 48.28.
After 300, the Russians, behind Izotov, were in first. They dove in: Alexander Sukhorukov for the Russians, Adrian. Bousquet for the French.
The thing is, the Americans, in Lane 6, next to the French in Lane 5, had no idea what the Russians were doing over there in Lane 8, on the outside.
Swim insiders, meanwhile, have long had an eye out for Adrian. He swam in the prelims of that history-making 400 free relay in Beijing; before those Games, he had trained in South Florida with coach Mike Bottom and a stable of sprint stars that included Gary Hall Jr. Now he attends the University of California at Berkeley. He is, Bowman said, "the future of our relays."
Even so, Adrian acknowledged afterward, looking around on the deck Sunday night, "I kind of felt like a child among men."
His performance Sunday night, however: manly, indeed. A breakout. “I was confident with him on the blocks,” Phelps said of Adrian. “He has been coming up a lot the last year or two.”
"Awesome swim!!!" Adrian’s mom, Cecila, said in an e-mail note, and it was.
Or, as Lochte put it in his trademark victory call, one the French just don’t get: "Jeah!"
[ Universal Sports ]