The focus will be on the American who, for the second time, will be chasing Mark Spitz’s epic haul of seven gold medals, writes A. Vinod.
The National Aquatics Centre, better known as the Water Cube, will witness some keen tussles during the Beijing Olympics. However, the focus of the world, undoubtedly, will be on one swimmer — Michael Phelps. The American, for the second time, will be chasing Mark Spitz’s epic haul of seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
Four years ago, in Athens, the swimmer from Baltimore came close to achieving the feat, winning six gold and two bronze medals. Now, as a more mature and experienced swimmer, Phelps, aged 23, will attempt to win the gold in the 200m freestyle, 100m and 200m butterfly and the 200m and 400m individual medley besides the three relays. The owner of world records in four of these events, the American superstar’s tussle with team-mate Ian Crocker, the world record holder in 100m butterfly, will determine his success in Beijing.
While there are a few who doubt if the young American will be able to emulate Spitz, the legend himself has no doubts about Phelps achieving his dream. “This is going to be history. He’s going to do it with what we say a little schooling to the rest of the world,” remarked Spitz.
Grant Hackett is another swimmer who will be attempting to gain a place in Olympic history. The Australian will be aiming to become the first male swimmer to win the same event (1500m free) in three successive Olympics.
Following their tremendous showing in Athens in 2004, Aaron Peirsol of the United States and Kousuke Kitajima of Japan will be aiming for another golden double in backstroke and breaststroke.
Dutchman Pieter van Hoogenband, the sprint specialist, making his fourth appearance in the Olympics, is another swimmer to look out for. And adding sheen to the competitions will be Earmon Sullivan (Australia), the current 50m freestyle world record holder, Frenchmen Alain Bernard and Amaury Leveaux, Sweden’s Stefan Nystrand and Italian Filippo Magnini, all noted names in the international circuit.
China, which has never won a swimming medal in the Olympics, will try to make an impact at home through Wu Peng and Zhang Lin.
While the US would be attempting to win most of the medals in the men’s section, Australia is expected to come to the fore in the women’s section. Leading the Aussie charge will be the experienced Libby Trickett (nee Lenton) in the company of Stephanie Rice (individual medley), Liesel Jones (breaststroke) and Jessicah Schipper (butterfly). Given the terrific form that each one of them has shown in recent times, the Australians could not only prove to be a headache to the Americans but also others, including the likes of backstroke and individual medley diva Kirsty Coventry (Zimbabwe), Poland’s Otylia Jedrejczak (butterfly), Italian Federica Pellegrini and Laure Manaudou of France, who despite being a world record holder in the 200m freestyle, will compete only in the 400m and 800m.
The American challenge will be spearheaded by Katie Hoff. The youngster, appearing in her second Olympics, will compete in six events: the 400m and 800m freestyle, the individual medleys and the relays.
The other key figures in the US squad are the evergreen Dara Torres and the experienced trio of Amanda Beard, Natalie Coughlin and Kate Ziegler besides the new 200m backstroke world record holder Margaret Hoeizer.
Trickett, however, is likely to be the one who will hold much attention as she goes in for the 50m and 100m free sprint double plus the 100m butterfly gold medal.
Indeed, a lot of fireworks are expected at the National Aquatic Centre pool, where all the finals will be held in the morning so as to suit the American prime time television.
The Beijing Olympics will also see swimming enter a new territory with the open water event — a 10km race for both men and women.
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