- 16 Aug 08, 08:00 AM
It doesn't happen very often that Michael Phelps gets reduced to second place in the headlines, especially after equalling Mark Spitz's seven gold medals from Munich in 1972.
But Rebecca Adlington's gold medal performance in the 800m freestyle was certainly the most astonishing swim I have ever seen from a Briton, and, arguably one of the greatest swims of all time.
To break Janet Evans's 1989 world record by over two seconds was immense in itself, but the margin between the 19-year-old from Mansfield and the rest was nothing short of astonishing.
What's more it couldn't have happened to a more popular member of the GB team. This teenager has charisma, is delightfully free of clichés and has a winning smile that lights up any sporting event.
Adlington is just what British swimming needs right now as attention in the pool starts to focus on the job ahead in 2012. What an inspiration she will be for all the 15 and 16-year-olds with aspirations of making the next Olympics.
I saw Rebecca with hands cut to ribbons from putting on the body suit and tired out after an exhausting schedule in Liverpool just a few weeks ago, and she still went out and clocked the third fastest time in the world in the 400m freestyle. I thought then that we have something special - now I know it for certain.
Meanwhile, back to the small matter of Michael Phelps. Seven up for him - with the formality of the medley relay to come, but did he really win the 100m butterfly?
The Serbians initially believed that the clock was wrong as, with the naked eye, it looked like Milorad Cavic had just edged out the 'Superfish' to the wall.
One one hundredths of a second separated the two men, with the decision going the way of the 23-year-old American.
After reviewing the tape, the sports governing body Fina and representatives of the Serbian team agreed that the result should stand.
Talking of great National feats, Cesar Cielo Filho became the first Brazilian to win an Olympic swimming title. The Alabama-based student overcame the sprint heavyweights to win in 21.30 seconds.
World record holder Eamon Sullivan didn't even get a medal.
What a day - can we start the Olympics all over again, I'm enjoying it too much?
About this blog
Links to the blogs of all the contributors can be found below.
Subscribe to BBC Sport: Olympics blog
You can stay up to date with BBC Sport: Olympics blog via these feeds.
BBC Sport: Olympics blog Feed(RSS)
BBC Sport: Olympics blog Feed(ATOM)
If you aren't sure what RSS is you'll find our beginner's guide to RSS useful.
Olympics headlines
Visit the BBC Sport website
Visit the Olympics index
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites
Comments
Sign in or register to comment.
Well done you have made your nation feel proud, lets hope you get true recognition from the powers that be as soon as possible, and not in ten years time after much lobbying.
Dame Adlington of Mansfield from today not tommorow.
Complain about this comment
Go girl !!! Thank goodness we had you in the pool going for it - not sure about the rest of our swimmers real commitment but you were superb!!
Complain about this comment
Adlington! Woot woot! What an amazing swim! Couldn't have happened to a nicer person either, she is so immediately likeable. Best of British.
Complain about this comment
Well that is Young Sports Personality of the Year sorted!
Complain about this comment
Congrats Adlington. Hope the press don't overshadow your emaculate achievement by this Phelps' Syndrome. I also salute the less unsung Zimbabwean Kirsty Coventry. What loyalty and pride considering what her country is going through at the moment.
Complain about this comment
Outstanding swim in the 800m from Adlington, almost felt sorry for the other swimmers. Sports personality sure, her and the cyclists have been superb.
Complain about this comment
Iv'e looked at the Phelps - WIN- so many times now and still don't believe he won the race.
It may be a tie because the Serb was 'gliding' in , but with Phelps in the air mid stroke he couldn't have won....... could he ..??!!
Anyway, no doubt Rebecca won her race, well done, congratulations.
Complain about this comment
A great games for Adlington of course- well deserved. But does anyone else think too many medals are handed out for swimming? To take an example- swimming is surely a bigger world wide event than say triathlon but is is really so much bigger that instead of 1 gold medal on offer there are what seem to be dozens (not sure of the exact number). It would be all very well if it was difficult to combine more than about 2 event plus 1 relay as in track and field but athletes seem to be able to combine so many. Its not just Phelps and Spitz, there was Biondi and Thorpe and Gross. I would take away about a third of the swimming events for 2012. What does everyone else think?
Complain about this comment
In all honesty, I got well bored of the Phelps medal bandwagon something after the 5th or 6th medal, great achievement though 8 out of 8 gold medals is. I've just watched it on iPlayer, and he was very excitedly being hailed by the commentator as the greatest Olympic ever and something about that just doesn't feel right.
I was much more impressed by the way Adlington absolutely tore apart the 800m. It was total and utter domination. That, for me, was THE swim event of these Olympics. The coxless four's victory also - what a suspenseful race!
Complain about this comment
Congratulation to all the swimmers who have done a superb job.
Special mention about Michael Phelps on 8 out of 8.
So much for Ian Thorpe saying that he would not do it.
Sour grapes I guess!!
Complain about this comment
Over and over yesterday and today, Phelps was heralded by the BBC commentators as the "greatest athlete ever", or, at least, "the greatest Olympian ever. I found that so annoying! The greatest swimmer ever, or the greatest Olympic swimmer, yes, why not! But, and that's not to take anything away from Phelps', Spitz' and any other great Swimmers' accomplishments, how makes the fact that a top swimmer is likely to win several medals rather than just one or two them greater athletes than top athletes of other disciplines where that isn't possible? It is really annoying to see not just one commentator but, it appears, nearly the whole BBC team, loose their discrimination and any sense of proportion at the sight of a few pieces of gold. Unless, of course, they are intentionally building up hype to add some grandeur to the Olympic coverage, in which case I'd take offence by us viewers being treated like a gullible mass that's unable to see the obvious and judge for themselves. Quite apart from apparently forgetting the truly great accomplishments of many other greats in the history of modern Olympics, whose often heroic efforts and outstanding accomplishments were brushed under the carpet, if not forgotten, for no better reason, apparently, than that their gold medal harvest didn't reach those numbers.
However, even though the way this was reported by the BBC got me pretty worked up, rather than reducing the amount of swimming events to restore more of a balance, as suggested by tomboyles, I'd prefer if the awareness would take hold that interdisciplinary comparison of athletic prowess is tricky, inherently unjust, and best left alone. But if, for whatever reason, one felt the need to compare, there should be an understanding that counting medals can't possibly be a valid indicator - particularly not swimming medals. Otherwise, the top positions of a "league table of all time greats", (now with Phelps on top spot and Spitz second) would, over time, fill up with more and more swimmers, till there'd be only swimmers left in the, lets say, top ten. By then everybody would be so fed up with the injustices inherent in the system, following a public outburst, swimming might get banned from the Olympics altogether... no worry, just joking ;)
Complain about this comment
I was really tickled to see Adlington's terrific performances. And not unhappy to see Mallouli beat Hackett..Really, Phelps (who is a MUCH better representative of the sport than dour marky mark spitz ever was) is kind of a given..The great events were the surprises...Torres both doing wonderfully (she had the fastest split in the medley relay); the GB swimmers generally doing better than expected; Leisel Jones winning the 4x100 relay by herself, essentially.
Though an American, i'm expecting some really great swims by the Brits in the 2012 games..get Tancock a little bit of endurance work!! Davies should be back on his game..W/ a few breaks y'all might have 5+ golds..not just 5-6 medals.
"The term Spitzian feat is kind of outdated," Peirsol said. "Now, it might be Phelpsian feat." and thank goodness..Spitz was a jerk...other swimmer really seem appreciative of Spitz..and he of them.
Complain about this comment
View these comments in RSS