OT: Phelps vs. Cavic Fly 100m Finals Rome 2009
this has to go down as the awesomest finishes in the history of swimming competition. that last 20m got me on my feet jumping like crazy at 3 in the morning (sydney time).. what a finish by phelps. ugh.. i still can't believe it.
ps: you could see there was bad blood from the get go as each swimmer faced each other as they entered the deck, which was crazy.
was phelps wearing the same high-tech suit as the other guy?
No Phelps wore the Speedo LZR that everyone had been wearing until these new suits came out recently.
Gotta love the french guy talking trash... and then promptly getting beat again. This time by the guy with supposedly inferior technology.
August 1st, 2009 at 10:04 PM ^
he's serbian.
August 1st, 2009 at 10:12 PM ^
... dude's not french... he's Serbian American, born in California. Still, he should have kept quiet.
Weird, this guy is American. It's a little strange that just because he has Serbian ancestry he gets to represent their country.
...but if a dude calls himself Serbian, represents Serbia in international competition, and -- most importantly -- is a total tool, isn't it o.k. for us to call him just Serbian, instead of Serbian-American?
As mentioned previously, Cavic was born in California, went to high school there, and attended/swam for UC Berkeley.
I believe part of the reason he swims for Serbia, other than heritage, is the lack of competition to make their national team. For the last 8 years, the U.S. has had Phelps and Ian Crocker swimming the 100M butterfly, which is what Cavic swims. (Cavic also swims the 50M butterfly, but that is not an Olympic distance). Phelps is obviously awesome, but Crocker is no slouch. He silvered in the 100M fly in Athens, and has won world championships and held the WR for the event several times.
What makes Phelps' victory even better is that he wore the "old" Speedo suit, which is slower than Cavic's.
August 1st, 2009 at 10:20 PM ^
The guy was from Serbia. There were no French in the race.
August 1st, 2009 at 11:47 PM ^
watched the news at all leading up to this race, knowing what this dumbass Serb was saying, then you know how strong of an OWN this was. For reference he was the one that Phelps "outtouched" for maybe his 6th gold medal in the Games last summer....can't quite remember.
But earlier in the day in Rome, he said that the he still believed that was his gold and that the only pictures Americans show of the race are to their advantage. Today he was gonna prove that he was faster...Serbowned.
At the end of the day, it's still swimming and it's not the Olympics. Even as a former swimmer I fail to see why anyone would care about this.
August 2nd, 2009 at 10:03 AM ^
...I just watched the video and realized it was a Serbian TV broadcast, which makes it even funnier -- funnier because I can speak Croatian, which is substantially similar but for some shibboleths. If anyone complains about NBC rooting too hard for U.S. athletes during the Olympics, they should realize how far in the bag other countries go.
August 2nd, 2009 at 11:10 AM ^
Dobro jutro, odakle si na Hrvatska?
August 2nd, 2009 at 11:18 AM ^
Dobro jutro gospodin! Nisam rodjen u Hrvatska, ali moj otac je od Zadar. I ti?
Dva jos tjedana dok Velika Gospa!
August 2nd, 2009 at 11:50 AM ^
Moja baka je iz Pula. I uistinu, to je da skoro Hrvatski St. Patrick's Day! Ja sam uzbuđen.
August 2nd, 2009 at 12:58 PM ^
YOU KNOW I DON'T SPEAK SPANISH