Michael Phelps Wins 7 Gold Medals

#1

Michael Phelps Wins 7 Gold Medals - Misses 8th Due to DQ

Ian Crocker's eagerness to get back in the pool after losing to Michael Phelps ended up costing his superstar teammate a shot at history -- and more gold. The U.S. team was shockingly disqualified in the 400-meter medley relay preliminaries Sunday, spoiling Phelps' bid for a record eight gold medals.

Crocker dove in for the butterfly leg before Scott Usher completed his breaststroke portion, resulting in the DQ. It was the first time any U.S. relay team failed to reach a final in world championships' history.

"Just an unlucky exchange," anchor Neil Walker said.

Ryan Lochte led off on the backstroke.

Crocker was back in the water for the first time since losing the 100 fly to Phelps the night before. Phelps' victory was his sixth gold medal of the meet, tying Ian Thorpe's record from 2001.

Phelps could still become the most successful swimmer at a world championships if he wins the 400 individual medley Sunday night. He qualified fastest for the final.

"Michael was doing something that nobody has ever done before," Walker said. "I think everybody is going to be disappointed, Michael included. But he's going to see that this is the way it happens sometimes."

Walker attributed Crocker's mistake to "a little bit of overexcitement."

"Ian had such an awesome race last night with Michael Phelps. To get back up the next morning is tough to do in the morning relay," he said.

Phelps was counting on the morning crew earning a spot in the evening final, which he, breaststroker Brendan Hansen, backstroker Aaron Peirsol and freestyler Jason Lezak would have swum. They would have been favored to break the world record, which Phelps helped set at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

But Crocker completed his exchange in 0.04 seconds -- one-hundredth of a second outside the allowable time, so no protest could be lodged.

"That's just incomprehensible, that amount of time," Walker said. "It's so small that you can never really plan that."

The Americans easily won their heat, then stood behind the starting blocks at the end of the race, waiting for judges to check Crocker's exchange.

When they ruled against him, Crocker slapped his hands to his face in disbelief.

"I trust the machine," U.S. men's assistant coach Eddie Reese said. "Since '88 in Korea, which was my first Olympics, I have not seen the machine make a mistake."

The stunning result provoked instant reaction from other countries. Members of Singapore's relay pointed at the `DSQ' listed next to the United States on a television monitor and smiled.

"It's rare when we do that," Reese said, "and you never know what causes it because everybody's trying to be careful."

Japan qualified first for the final in 3 minutes, 37.04 seconds.

"I feel sorry for them," Japanese swimmer Daisuke Hosokawa said, referring to the Americans.

Walker spoke on behalf of the relay team, with Crocker walking by reporters in silence.

Crocker is quiet and contemplative in the best of times, so Reese couldn't imagine what he was feeling after such a huge gaffe.

"I have enough trouble saying how I'm feeling at the moment," said Reese, Crocker's college coach at Texas. "Ian's very, very sensitive and this is real tough on him."

It was the fourth time a U.S. relay team was disqualified at worlds. The last time was 2001 in Japan, where the men's 400 free and 400 medley relays were DQ'd.

Earlier, Phelps qualified for the 400 IM in 4:12.01. He'll go for his fifth world record of the meet in the final.

"I'm hurting a little bit, but this is the most important day. This is the final exam of the week," Phelps said. "This is the last big test that I have front of me."

He has passed every other challenge through the first seven days. Going into Sunday night, Phelps had won four golds with the fastest times ever.

Source: Sports Illustrated

Lost Ghost · #2

dude is fucking amazing.....unbelievable how good this guy is..

#3

I'm actually kinda gassed to see that new movie about swimmers coming up...Swimming is not big here, but I'm open to learning more about it, especially since Aemeth is a pretty good swimmer I think...

#4

Aemeth is an amazing swimmer. He's not far off of the Olympic qualifying time. I think he's only like 2 or 3 seconds off and he's only a freshman in college. He'll definitely get there by the time he graduates. He was one of the top 5 swimmers in the state of Oregon in high school. He's unbelievable

#5

lol I think might be a little too much to live up to TT...but I will try!

Phelps is crazy...even in a sport where talent is such a distant second to hard work, the faster you get, the more talent becomes a factor. the rate at which phelps' body gets rid of lactic acid and recovers is phenomenal. dude was made to swim.

#6

that is an amazing feat. good to see the kid dominate like no one has in a long time.

#7

QUOTE(Aemeth @ Apr 2 2007, 03:30 PM) the rate at which phelps' body gets rid of lactic acid and recovers is phenomenal. dude was made to swim.

I always thought lactic acid built up on when you didn't use muscles...Like, if I didn't lift weights for a year, and then went to hit the weight room hard, that fucking immense pain I'd feel is lactic on my muscles...How does that factor into swimming..?

#8

It's just the opposite I think. Lactic acid builds up right after you use your muscles intensely. I know for baseball, after we would pitch in games, we would run poles (a pole is running from the right field foul line to left field and back). We would do at least 20 of those to get rid of the acid.

Kris knows more about it than I do, but I think that's how it works

#9

The burning you feel when you are lifting hard, running hard, etc. is the lactic acid. Lactic acid builds up when you muscles are being pushed hard. Let's say it takes a normal person 5 min to recover from something, it takes Phelps 1 and a half. Think of it like this: You and Phelps are both doing a set of bench. You both push yourself the same amount the first set, barely getting the last number in the set up. You both are hurting. But Phelps is ready to go for another set just a few seconds after, while you are still soar and breathing hard. Yea, it is a little conditioning, but some people's bodies are just naturally inclined to recover faster than others.