Though Steffen is the world record holder in the event and though Therese Alshammar and Dara Torres are summarily amazing, I think the 100 free is both for Libby Lenton and Britta Steffen to sort out. Britta also has the home pool advantage. Why this event is on my radar is the dissimilar age of the swimmers. Britta is only 24, whereas Therese Alshammar, is 30 and Dara Torres is 40. From the article:"... Steffen, who turns 24 tomorrow, is European champion and world record holder in the 100m freestyle and was not even a year old when Torres, 40, picked up the first of her four Olympic gold relay medals at the Los Angeles Games.
Torres hopes to become the oldest ever swimmer to compete at an Olympics in Beijing next year, where she will be 41, and would be the first swimmer to make five Olympic teams. She will be up against Steffen and Sweden’s Olympic medallist Therese Alshammar in the 100m freestyle in Berlin during the two-day event. " [Link]
Gary Hall Jr. will be there too.If you can read German; (I can't so I went to Babelfish to translate), here is an article about all the nonsense and allegations Steffen had to put up with once she broke the world record. She discusses that she dose not have the time nor the money to constantly prove she does not dope and that if she did have the time and money, critics would then accuse her of buying off the labs that tested her. Hence she just gets tested by the German anti doping agency. [Link]
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