Most of the hype about the U.S. Swimming Team in Beijing has centered around Michael Phelps. Some would say this is deservedly the case as he has already taken Gold in World Record fashion in all 3 events he has competed in thus far. Unfortunately the fan fare surrounding Phelps has taken some of the spotlight away from his talented teammates. Most of you probably know that Phelps won his 3rd Gold medal on Monday night(early Tuesday morning Beijing time), but you may have missed his 4 talented teammates.
Aaron Piersol and Natalie Coughlin were both Olympic Champions in the 100M backstroke in Athens. Neither had looked dominant prior to Tuesday. Coughlin won her semifinal heat on Monday but struggled to swim in a direct line, even brushing against the lane barrier at times. Piersol finished just 3rd in his semifinal and looked to be laboring at times to even keep up with his top rivals. All that changed on Tuesday morning.
Coughlin came out strong in the Women's Final and led almost from start to finish. she seemed to run out of gas in the final 15 meters but her lead was so great that no one was able to run her down. She touched in 58.96 seconds to beat out Kirsty Conventry of Zimbabwe. Her teammate Margaret Hoelzer finished 3rd to take the Bronze. On the Men's side, Piersol was even more dominant as he raced to his 2nd consecutive Gold in World Record fashion. He touched in 52.54 seconds, over half a second ahead of his closest rival, teammate Matt Grevers, who took the Silver.
It was a dominating performance all-around for the back-strokers. 2 events, 2 Gold medals, 1 Silver medal, 1 Bronze medal and 1 World Record set in the process.
Welcome back... Welcome back indeed.
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