Stephanie Rice leapfrogs Dara Torres, Natalie Coughlin, to become 'Swimming World's best female competitor of the year!'

From The Australian: "... Michael Phelps was the predictable male swimmer of the year after winning a record eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics, which also gave him a record career tally of 14.

Clearly, Rice was the best female swimmer of the Games after winning the 200m and 400m individual medley in world record times, and combining with team-mates Kylie Palmer, Bronte Barratt and Linda MacKenzie to take an extraordinary 5sec from the 4x200m freestyle world record.

In her Olympic debut, Rice, 20, finished with a perfect record. ..." [Link]

Photo from the Sydney Morning Herald after Stephanie Rice set a WR in the 200 IM at the 2008 Beijing Games: "...Rice's time slashed 0.80 seconds off the previous world record and 2.5 seconds off her own previous best time set at last year's world championships

The 200m medley record had stood for 11 years prior to Rice's dominant performance tonight.

The Queenslander was 1.4 seconds under world record pace at the halfway mark and was stunned with her ability to lower her own time by such a remarkable margin. ..." [Link]

'Swimming World' - "College Swim Coaches Say Extend the Ban on New High-Tech Suits"

From Swimming World: "...ATLANTA, Georgia, September 30. BUCKING the trend by most of swimming's governing bodies to accept the new high-tech swim suits, the board of directors of the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) voted to oppose the NCAA's recent decision not to extend the moratorium it had imposed on the use of these suits in collegiate competition. ..." [Link]

Sheesh! If the CSCAA got their way, why should a company like TYR or Speedo make a swim speedsuit if only a finite crowd is allowed to buy one? Why would a manufacturer bother if only masters swimmers and those elite swimmers who are over 12-years-of-age, are not and in college, and are at the elite level in an international competition are the only people allowed to wear one?