The qualifying process for the Beijing open water races is awkward. For instance, according to the Steven Munatone's article at Lane 9 News, Chip Peterson did not finish in the top 10. He came close by placing 13th but that did not guarantee him a spot in Beijing. However, Saleh Mohammed, of Syria who placed 23rd will get to go; (rightfully so), since he has rated as the Asian continent's best finisher.If Chip Peterson is going to go, he needs to race again on June 1st in Beijing in another qualifier race. If Chip does not qualify there, then the selection will be up to USA Swimming.
Here is a snippet from Steven Munatone's Lane 9 News article: "... SEVILLE, Spain, May 4. SIMILAR to the women's 10K championship yesterday, a British Olympic pool swimmer led the entire way until a savvy Russian surged at the end to claim the gold at the 2008 FINA World Open Water Championships. David Davies dragged the entire lead pack of over 40 men around four loops of the 10K course in Seville. Swimming consistently at 41-43 strokes per minutes, Davies lifted up his head every 20-50 strokes as he led the field. ..." [Link]
Above is how close the Open Water race was: David Davies got out touched by Russia's Vladimir Dyatchin by by an arm length. Photo from the BBC. [Link]
In this article by the Sydney Morning Herald, Australian teammate, Ky Hurst, said: "... A lot of the Europeans were rumoured to have said they would target Grant and they unfortunately did, ..."
"Two things came into play with Grant's swim, one he did not have the experience and two he is Grant Hackett and he was targeted big time. ..."
"They swam over him, bumped into the side of him, Grant has a large stroke and bumping into him every time is going to shorten his stroke up and going to hurt him and they were swimming over his legs,"
"That is what they do here, it is not the easiest sport in the world and unfortunately experience comes into play." [Link]
This article from the International Herald Tribune quotes Grant Hackett as to why is was disqualified: "... There were times when there were bodies everywhere — it was that kind of race," Hackett said. "I'm the first to admit that it was never going to be easy and, with 150 metres to go, another swimmer swam over the top of me and pulled me back and I swam over his legs and that's what I was supposedly disqualified for." [Link]
6 comments:
Steve sent us another update, explaining in detail what happened with Hackett's DQ (along with the other DQ).
Go Great Britain! Two qualifiers in the women and one in the men. Think we have a good chance of a medal in the summer.
The selection for the US is now closed. Mark Warkentin is the only male representative in the event for Team USA. The Test event is only for those nations that did not qualify anyone in the Seville race. Chip Peterson swam a great race and positioned himself quite well throughout. He is a great young man and a tried and true member of Team USA. Both Chip and Mark competed well.
I hope you don't think that I was disparaging Chip Peterson? Please don't think that. Ultimately it was Grant Hackett that tried to effect how well Chip Peterson was doing.
To be able to say Chip Peterson and Grant Hackett in the same sentence indicates how good a swimmer Peterson is.
Wow, this sounds like a very physical sport! That's too bad about Hackett, I was rooting for him!
More aggressive than you know or what I wrote.
I bet in Beijing someone gets there nose broken. Micha Burden had a rib broken in a FINA event.
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