Manaudou reveals her swim program for French Nationals

That's not Laure Manaudou to the right but rather Jack Klugman in a pork pie hat! More on that later but now, regarding Manaudou's swim program for French Nationals:

"...The swimmer confirmed that she will race 200, 400, 800 and 1,500m free, 50 and 100m back, 200m medley and 200m butterfly at the French nationals at Saint-Raphaël from Sunday to Thursday next week. The 200m backstroke clashes with the 400m freestyle and will therefore not be part of Manaudou's marathon, one which includes the fascinating chemistry of relays for her French club Canet...."

On Kate Ziegler's 1500m WR:

"...One time she knew she would not do right now was Kate Ziegler's new world record of 15:42.54 over 1,500m. But the time would "encourage me to work harder"...."

I suspect Manaudou will have nothing to do with 1500m free till after Beijing. She may swim it but her comment to me seems like a capitulation at least for this year. [Link]

Tangent sidenote: There is this Twilight Zone episode called "A Game of Pool" where actor Jack Klugman portrays a pool shark who wishes he could prove he was the greatest pool player of them all if only he could play the late, Fats Brown, who is played by Jonathan Winters.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, he gets that chance and the ensuing 20 minutes is more about philosophy than it is about playing pool. Winters is the philosopher here as he chides his challenger to go outside more, care about real things, don't take the game so seriously.

I feel that Janet Evans has become that character. Though she adores swimming, has something to do with WADA and philanthropic swim programs, I suspect she feels somewhat emancipated now that her 18-year reign over the 1500m free has ended.