FIVE STORYLINES TO WATCH AT WINTER NATIONALS
December 1, 2011
USA SwimmingBY MIKE GUSTAFSON//Correspondent
This weekend, I’ll head to HOTlanta for the AT&T Winter National Championships.
I plan on eating at a restaurant that features a pool of alligators. (Hopefully they don’t serve them, too). Interestingly, this weekend’s swim meet was originally slated to be a short course swim meet, but was changed to long course so that swimmers would have a chance at attaining Olympic Trials cuts. This means we’ll see fast, fast, fast swimming.
The meet starts tomorrow, and it will be webcast here usaswimming.org/nationals. I’ll be on deck gathering video footage, but I’ll also monitor these storylines below.
They are the more intriguing storylines we’ll see this Olympic year – Dara Torres and her remarkable journey as a 44-year-old competitive swimmer, Brendan Hansen’s comeback, Missy Franklin’s emergence as a veritable superstar, Ryan Lochte being, well, Ryan Lochte.
There are a handful of other Olympic hopefuls heading to Atlanta this weekend, and I’ll also be watching swimmers like Jessica Hardy, Matt Grevers, Nathan Adrian and Garrett Weber-Gale. (Not to mention, another face-off between Cullen Jones and Josh Schneider, perhaps?)
As always, here are the 5 Storylines to Watch this weekend:
5. Does Dara Torres train in the Fountain of Youth? Some fun facts: When Dara Torres was born, the Beatles released “Sgt. Peppers Lonely Heart Club Band,” “The Graduate” was released, and Lyndon Johnson was President. Torres is 44 years old, nearly 7 years older than the oldest male Olympic Trials qualifier in history. Interestingly, the 1996 Olympics were held in this same Atlanta pool, a meet that Torres missed because she was retired. That was over 15 years ago. She tweeted earlier this week: “Good to see where I am at in training & just race.” Should be good for the rest of us to see Ms. Torres back in the pool, too. Here’s to hoping for a great swimming season for the Olympic veteran-of-all-veterans.
4. Hansen vs. Kitajima. When Brendan Hansen retired after the 2008 Olympics, many swimming fans never thought we’d ever see another Hansen vs. Kitajima rematch. The two breaststrokers are the most dominant of the last decade. But Hansen has a chip on his shoulder having lost to Kitajima in the previous two Olympics. Kitajima has a chance to become (with Phelps) the first male three-peat Olympic gold medalist defender in a single event. Meanwhile, Hansen wants to earn his first-ever Olympic individual gold. It all starts this weekend. The 100m breaststroke could be a phenomenal race, and a preview of a more important race we’ll see next summer in London.
3. Missile Missy returns after dominating the Golden Goggles. Missy Franklin won three Golden Goggle Awards two weeks ago – Race of the Year, Relay of the Year, and Female Athlete of the Year. Now the 16-year-old superstar returns to the pool deck with more confidence than ever before. I’m excited to see her 100 and 200 backstrokes. Franklin broke the American record in the 200m distance this summer. She’s just off Natalie Coughlin’s record in the 100 backstroke. Needless to say, if you win three Golden Goggles as a 16-year-old, all eyes will be on you. Franklin seems poised to handle the extra attention, and we’ll see that Olympic-focused media attention starting this month.
2. Soni’s challenge in the 200m breaststroke. Rebecca Soni rarely gets a chance to race anyone in the 200m breaststroke. She’s been so dominant, no one can catch her. But this weekend, she’ll face an up-and-coming Russian teenager who could challenge Soni in breaststroking supremacy. Yuliya Efimova won a World Championship silver medal this past summer in the event, and is the closest competitor in the 200m breaststroke the world can offer. Should be an interesting match-up between the dominant veteran Soni and the upstart teenager from Russia.
1. Lochte, Lochte, and Lochte, oh my! Anyone else get the feeling like Ryan Lochte is on the cusp of becoming the biggest swimming star on the planet? He may already be. Sports Illustrated just nominated him for Sportsman of the Year. He won the Golden Goggle for “Male Athlete of the Year.” From reports I heard, the guy signed all autographs during the celebration in Los Angeles two weeks ago, and he is the perfect athlete to carry swimming to the next level. He genuinely cares about his young fans and is balancing the publicity that fame brings. Lochte will probably use this meet as a training platform rather than genuine performance gauge, but that doesn’t mean he will disappear into the pack. He’s becoming the No. 1 swimming ambassador our sport desperately needs heading into the 2012 Olympics. I’m most looking forward to his 400m IM, where he’ll face off against Tyler Clary.
