To the casual sports fan, knowledge of swimming begins and ends with Michael Phelps. I get that.
But there is so much more to the sport, as there is in all sports in which superstars (Tiger Woods, Roger Federer, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James) obscure everyone else.
Consider a few of the story lines from Tuesday's first night of finals in the ConocoPhillips USA Swimming Championships at the Natatorium at IUPUI.
-- Cancer survivor Eric Shanteau finished second in the 100-meter breaststroke behind Eric Gangloff's American record of 59.01. Shanteau has been seeing Indianapolis oncologist Larry Einhorn, who led the medical team that treated cyclist Lance Armstrong for cancer in 1996. Shanteau's story overshadowed that of Gangloff, who has a good one himself. Gangloff, 27, has labored for years to break the 1-minute mark . . . and then nearly whizzed right past 59 to 58.
"I've spent a lot of time right at the one-double-o," Gangloff said. "I knew the breakthrough was coming."
Brendan Hansen's American record of 59.13 had stood since 2006. Japan's Kosuke Kitajima set the world record of 58.91 at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
-- Dana Vollmer was nearly shattered by not making the Olympic team last year. At age 16, in 2004, she won a gold medal on the U.S. 4x200 freestyle relay team that broke East Germany's 17-year-old world record. Vollmer said she went home to Granbury, Texas, took a month and a half off -- her longest break in years -- and let her ailing back heal. This year, she has had no back pain. She was the NCAA swimmer of the year for Cal. On Tuesday, she was second in the 100 butterfly to make the world team going to Rome.
-- Ryan Lochte is probably the best swimmer in the world not named Michael Phelps. Without wearing a high-tech bodysuit, Lochte came from behind to win the 400 individual medley in 4:06.40, or nearly as fast as he swam (4:06.08) in pressuring Phelps at the 2008 Olympic Trials. Lochte won bronze in Beijing. It's easy to forget he has won six Olympic medals, three of them gold. Even without Phelps, the 400 IM continues to be a U.S. strength. Lochte barely beat 20-year-old Tyler Clary, whose 4:06.96 put him No. 4 on the all-time list. Phelps and Lochte are two of the three ahead of him.
Not every story was feel-good Tuesday night. The 17-year-old North Dakota phenom, Dagny Knutson, was fourth in the 200 IM and .08 away from the world team. Fortunately, she has other events.
Katie Hoff has apparently not fully recovered from an illness that caused her to leave the Santa Clara, Calif., meet earlier this year. She was sixth in the 400 freestyle.
Phelps, by the way, starts competition Wednesday morning in prelims of the 200 freestyle and 200 butterfly.
Source
But there is so much more to the sport, as there is in all sports in which superstars (Tiger Woods, Roger Federer, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James) obscure everyone else.
Consider a few of the story lines from Tuesday's first night of finals in the ConocoPhillips USA Swimming Championships at the Natatorium at IUPUI.
-- Cancer survivor Eric Shanteau finished second in the 100-meter breaststroke behind Eric Gangloff's American record of 59.01. Shanteau has been seeing Indianapolis oncologist Larry Einhorn, who led the medical team that treated cyclist Lance Armstrong for cancer in 1996. Shanteau's story overshadowed that of Gangloff, who has a good one himself. Gangloff, 27, has labored for years to break the 1-minute mark . . . and then nearly whizzed right past 59 to 58.
"I've spent a lot of time right at the one-double-o," Gangloff said. "I knew the breakthrough was coming."
Brendan Hansen's American record of 59.13 had stood since 2006. Japan's Kosuke Kitajima set the world record of 58.91 at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
-- Dana Vollmer was nearly shattered by not making the Olympic team last year. At age 16, in 2004, she won a gold medal on the U.S. 4x200 freestyle relay team that broke East Germany's 17-year-old world record. Vollmer said she went home to Granbury, Texas, took a month and a half off -- her longest break in years -- and let her ailing back heal. This year, she has had no back pain. She was the NCAA swimmer of the year for Cal. On Tuesday, she was second in the 100 butterfly to make the world team going to Rome.
-- Ryan Lochte is probably the best swimmer in the world not named Michael Phelps. Without wearing a high-tech bodysuit, Lochte came from behind to win the 400 individual medley in 4:06.40, or nearly as fast as he swam (4:06.08) in pressuring Phelps at the 2008 Olympic Trials. Lochte won bronze in Beijing. It's easy to forget he has won six Olympic medals, three of them gold. Even without Phelps, the 400 IM continues to be a U.S. strength. Lochte barely beat 20-year-old Tyler Clary, whose 4:06.96 put him No. 4 on the all-time list. Phelps and Lochte are two of the three ahead of him.
Not every story was feel-good Tuesday night. The 17-year-old North Dakota phenom, Dagny Knutson, was fourth in the 200 IM and .08 away from the world team. Fortunately, she has other events.
Katie Hoff has apparently not fully recovered from an illness that caused her to leave the Santa Clara, Calif., meet earlier this year. She was sixth in the 400 freestyle.
Phelps, by the way, starts competition Wednesday morning in prelims of the 200 freestyle and 200 butterfly.
Source
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