Women's 400m Freestyle Heats

-transmission interrupted by le country's 'today at the games' :(-

Rebecca Adlington raises hopes for Team GB

Men's 100m Backstroke Heats

Ryosuke Irie! One of the poster boy in my 2008 blog was there (memory refreshed) as well as Arkady Vyatchanin and Yankov Toumarkin (mat him at YOG). Ryosuke "won", for as far as I know, faster than Lochte back in 2008. Here were the results then:

Gold: Ryan Lochte (Usa) world record 

Silver: Aaron Piersol (Usa)

Bronze: Arkady Vyatchanin (Rus) 

However his suit wasn't approved. And although he's 1:08s faster than Lochte, he was disqualified and stripped off his gold! Yikes. So here are the semifinalists:

1. Matthew Grevers (Usa) (he was just a heats-boy for Usa relay team back in 08!) 

2. Cheng Feiyi (Chn)

3. Nick Thoman (Usa)

4. Camile Lacourt (Fra)

5. Ryosuke Irie (Jpn)

6. Nick Driebergen (Ned)

7. Helge Meeuw (Ger)

8. Liam Tancock (Gbr)

9. Hayden Stoecel (Aus)

10. Vladimir Morozov (Rus)

10. Arkady Vyatchanin (Rus)

12. Jan-Phillip Glania (Ger)

13. Charles Francis (Can)

14. Gareth Kean (Nzl)

15. Daniel Arnamnart (Aus)

16. Aschwim Wilderboer Faber (Esp)

Alezandr Tarabrin of Kazahstan swimming for his life here

Women's 100m Breaststroke Heats

What a swim! Many familiar faces and names here, Leisel Jones, defending champion Rebecca Soni who has been dominant in this field since Beijing, 18 year old Tera Van Beilen who got gold and silver at the 100m & 200m breaststroke events back in 2010 YOG. They all made it to the semifinals. But what made my heart warm is really Rūta Meilutytė, who became the fastest qualifier. I thought she emerged out of nowhere, how ignorant of me. This young 15 year old has broke 9 Lithuanian records since making her appearance in the professional scene. She was so overwhelmed that when she emerged out of the water, she broke down. It must have been the fastest she has ever swam and she couldn't believe it. She out-swam Soni to become the fastest qualifier for the events. I hope she continue that speed! It's gonna be a match to look out for!

Semifinals:

1. Rūta Meilutytė (Ltu)

2. Rebecca Soni (Usa)

3. Iuliia Efimova (Rus)

4. Breeja Larson (Usa)

5. Leisel Jones (Aus)

6. Satomi Suzuki (Jpn)

7. Sarah Poewe (Ger)

8. Jennie Johansson (Swe)

9. Pikke Pedersen (Den)

10. Alia Atinson (Jam)

11. Leiston Pickett (Aus)

12. Suzaan van Bilkon (Rsa)

13. Zhao Jin (Chn)

14. Mina Matsushima (Jpn)

15. Jillian Tyler (Can)

16. Tera Van Beilen (Can)

an emotional Ruta

Men's 200m Freestyle Heats

Park Taehwan returns after an (my prediction) emotional race last night, where he failed to defend his title in the 400m Freestyle. Sun Yang returns after a victorious, historical win in the same event. Also in this race is Ryan Lochte, the current IT-boy I dare say, for the swimming events in this games. Paul Beidermann, the 25 year old from Germany, who holds the world record for both 200m & 400m for long and short course; is also here.

1. Sun Yang (Chn) 1:46.24
2. Ryan Lochte (Usa) 1:46.45
3. Yannick Agnel (Fra) 1:46.60
4. Danila Izotov (Rus) 1:46.61
5. Park Taehwan (Kor) 1:46.79
6. Robbie Renwick (Gbr) 1:46.79
7. Kenrick Monk (Aus) 1:46.94
8. Ricky Berens (Usa) 1:47.07
9. Dominik Kozma (Hun) 1:47.18
10. Paul Beidermann (Ger) 1:47.27
11. Sebestian Verschuren (Ned) 1:47.31
12. Gregory Mallet (Fra) 1:47.39
13. Thomas Fraser-Holmes (Aus) 1:47.50
14. Brett Fraser (Cay) 1:47.74
15. Artem Lobuzov (Rus) 1:47.91
16. Dominik Meichtry (Sui) 1:47.97

Yup that's the semifinals. Gruesome as usual. The fastest and slowest qualifying time is within a second difference. It's all about the milliseconds. All about the milliseconds...

Lochte captured by robotic cam

Rūta Meilutytė Beats Rebecca Soni as Fastest Qualifier

Soni, who has been dominant since Beijing 2008, has been beaten by 15 year old Lithuanian Rūta Meilutytė as the fastest qualifier for the Women's 100m Breastroke. Meilutytė has been deemed the a swimming prodigy, having broke 9 Lithuanian women's swimming records and winning gold at the 2011 Youth summer Olympics.

End of Day 1

*Yawns* It's end of day 1 and it's 4:45am here in sunny Singapore. No worries, it's a sunday and I only need to be up at about...11am. Abit delusional here but would like to get some of my feelings out.

le google icon of le day

I still am awestruck by Olympics and especially swimming. I am amazed by the resilience of the swimmers, and how some could shine under pressure and deliver such incredible results. These people meet each other about twice every year, and they better themselves each year, train while thinking about their fiercest opponent on the other side of the world. Don't you think its just amazing? I was checking their track record but then I got tired of it. Almost all of the athletes you see at the pool held the world record some point in their career. Some are current holders. Some are new, fresh holders. I love how the commentator say "...and the world record holder in right there in the pool in lane..." He or she maybe the idol of his/her competitors in the other lanes, trained against his/her timing for years. It's all about the split seconds, +0.18, +0.02...it could make or break a swimmer. It could cause you your chance in the finals, it will make you lose your gold. 


Yup, the best in the world; they are compatriots, rivals, maybe friends. Without each other they won't be spurred on to swim their best.Sports is beautiful.  Sports is life! Can't live without it. Can't live without sleep, either. Adios my dear friends. Until tomorrow! 


xoxo,
olympic fish

Danny, Get Some Sleep

This was Danny in 2008, back when he was centre of the world's attention.

And this is Danny 24 hours ago, at 55 years of age. I wonder how many nights had he gone without sleeping, how many meals had he skipped. How many brain cells had he over-excercised throughout these 4 years, slogging hard just for this day. I remember seeing Zhang Yimou in 2008 and my sister said he looked like he hadn't sleep for months.

Danny, it's fantastic. Now get some sleep!