Trials and Tribulation

Occasionally, some of us at CFW get to go out of town for the weekend. Not even really out of town, more like up north...but honestly, we'll take what we can get. Even though I was enjoying myself at the beach and reading a book for leisure, I made sure to get home in time for these awesome events -

1. Michael Phelps (wearing the leggings version of the Speedo LZR, mind you) breaking his previous world record in the 400 Meter IM with the help of a little healthy competition from Ryan Lochte. His time clocked in at 4:05:25. Oh yeah, Ryan Lochte also touched in under the previous world record at 4:06:08. The previous world record? 4:06:22
2. Katie Hoff, the youngster who was just 15 in Athens, swam to a world record time of 4:31:12 in the 400 Meter IM and earned herself a spot on the Olympic team.
3. The race that produces the "fastest man in the world" lived up to its name as Tyson Gay ran the fastest 100 meters ever recorded in any weather. He clocked in at an astonding 9:68. Now, I don't know if anyone else watched this, but even I was screaming at the TV. It was beautiful. Unfortunately, he was not awarded the world record because the tail wind was over the allowable amount (any wind above 2.0 meters/second).

So, on the first night of Olympic trials, we all had the opportunity to see what the Americans are made of. Jamaican sprinters Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell better be paying attention...just because it's not techincally a world record doesn't mean Tyson Gay isn't the fastest man alive. Ian Thorpe (the "Thorepedo" as he's known around the world) of Australia commented last week that Michael Phelps will never break the record for most medals in an Olympic games. Maybe he doesn't know that Mr. Phelps takes comments like those and eats them for breakfast, tapes them up in his locker for motivation, and then shatters world records. Katie Hoff knows what it's like to fail (as evidenced by her performance in Athens) and takes that confidence and experience into her races.

Did I mention that we have an entire week of Trials? Oh, and the actual Games?

It's only the beginning.

Records are meant to be broken

Fastest man in the world