FINA 2013 Swimming World Championships

• Fly4Fun

  

  I know it's not the Olympics so almost no one cares. Generally nothing too exciting has happened. Lochte has been damn good, but still pales in comparison to what Phelps has recently achieved. Missy Franklin has continued upon her olympic success and has 5 golds and a chance for 6.
  
  Mainly I'm making this thread for a single piece of information about Katie Ledecky (the 15 year old who was a huge surprise in the distance events at the past Olympics). She has 4 golds at this worlds at 16 years old which in itself is impressive. She also has another world record in the 800m free, which relates to this impressive feat:
  
  Her 800m world record time is THREE seconds faster than the national age group record for the 4x200m (800m) relay. She can swim 800 meters three whole seconds (which is a lot in swimming) faster than the fastest relay of girls her age have ever done.
• Ironman92

  

  The girl is impressive.....but this thread should be fun come Monday.
• Azubuike24

  

  I almost made a thread for the USA Weightlifting National Championships last weekend. Then again, I thought twice because I'm probably the only one who actively follows USA Weightlifting throughout the year.
  
  I can respect the thread though...
• ironman02

  Missy Franklin might make a run at Phelps' Olympic medal record during her career. Really just depends on how long she decides to continue swimming. Off to a good start with 4 golds and 1 bronze in London last year.
• Fly4Fun

  

  ironman02;1482456 wrote:Missy Franklin might make a run at Phelps' Olympic medal record during her career. Really just depends on how long she decides to continue swimming. Off to a good start with 4 golds and 1 bronze in London last year.

  She's already behind his pace though.
  
  Phelps first Olympics at 15, 5th place finish in the 200M butterfly.
  
  Phelps @ 19, Athens: 6 gold, 2 bronze
  Phelps @ 23, Beijing: 8 gold
  Phelps @ 27, London: 4 gold, 2 silver
  
  Also, Phelps was the first male swimmer to win back to back to back golds in an individual event (and he did it in two different events, the 100 fly and 200 IM)
  
  Missy Franklin @ 17, London: 4 gold, 1 bronze.
  
  Now I guess the discussion would be how long is Missy's career and is her London Olympics more in line with Phelps at Sydney or at Athens? I would argue it's more like his Athens Olympics as far as what stage in their career they each were. Repeating at the Olympics is notoriously tough since you're going against the best every time. Repeat medalists don't come around too often. Back to back to back medalists are virtually unheard of. On the men's side Phelps is the only person to ever do it. On the women's side it has been done twice:
  
  Dawn Fraser (100 free)
  Krisztina Egerszegi (200 back)
  
  But that still leaves Phelps as the only person to threepeat in two different events (male or female). As far as four in a row if Missy has a long career? That would be completely unprecedented and amazing.
  
  So assuming she only has two more Olympics in her to shoot for gold, there really isn't any way she could catch Phelps in the total count or gold count. The only way she could catch Phelps would to either have an unbelievable career and individually win gold in four different Olympics or has a near identical haul as Phelps had over his Athens and Beijing games and then pulls a Natalie Caughlin and hangs on another Olympics or two as a relay specialist to pick up a few extra medals. This is all also assuming Phelps doesn't come back for Barcelona, which he might still. He was offered a position to be part of the FINA executive committee (the world governing body for swimming) which he turned down in order to keep his options for a come back open.
  
  Don't get me wrong, Missy Franklin is an unbelievable swimmer in her own right and hopefully will continue to have a great career. It's just nearly impossible for her to match Phelps, but that's what sports are about I guess. Someone doing what was previously thought impossible, which Phelps did time and time again.
• Raw Dawgin' it

  

  lol swimming
• ironman02

  Fly4Fun
  
  Don't get me wrong, it'll definitely be tough for anyone to EVER catch Phelps. I'm as big a Phelps fan as there is, so I'd love to see his record stand forever.
  
  The key part to my first post was centered around how long Franklin decides to continue swimming, and as you alluded to, how long she can swim at a high level. I think she'll be dominant in Rio de Janeiro and then she'll only be 25 at the 2020 games. I don't think it's a stretch to say that she wins 6 medals at each of those games, which would put her at 17 medals overall. If she game back for a fourth Olympics, then she might have an outside shot at reaching Phelps' mark. It'll be interesting to see what happens, and she could easily fall well short. Personally, though, I think she'll end up pretty close. I don't think she's gonna swim into her thirties, but still being competitive at 29 isn't unusual.
• Ironman92

  

  ^^^^^ not me lol