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Post by ken on Jul 28, 2009 19:18:30 GMT -5
For the first time in four years, Michael Phelps touched the wall second at a major international competition. And it was his swimsuit that did him in. German Paul Biedermann won the 200-meter freeestyle today at the World Swimming Championships in Rome, finishing more than a second ahead of the 14-time gold medalist. It was Phelps' first loss in a big meet since July 2005, when he finished behind Ian Crocker in the 100-meter butterfly at worlds. (You can watch a replay of the race at universalsports.com.) As we wrote earlier today, Phelps seemed resigned to the loss earlier this week after Biedermann stunned the swimming world by breaking Ian Thorpe's once-untouchable world record in the 400-meter free. With his Arena X-Glide suit, Bidermann has sliced seconds off his times in a sport where dropping tenths is considered a major achievement. To say Biedermann came out of nowhere would be hyperbole, but his emergence at these championships was certainly unexpected. After finishing 5th in the 200 at the Olympics and not qualifying for the finals in the 400, Biedermann is now a double world champion. And he isn't shy about attributing much of his success to the Arena X-Glide suit that he says improves his time by two seconds. sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/blog/fourth_place_medal
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Post by Chilehead on Jul 28, 2009 19:46:06 GMT -5
Bad link Ken.
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Post by ken on Jul 28, 2009 20:25:41 GMT -5
Fixed...
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Post by ken on Jul 28, 2009 20:32:30 GMT -5
They must have been updating. because now ther is a video..
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Post by Chilehead on Jul 28, 2009 21:00:02 GMT -5
Cool. Thanks.
Well, I'm glad that they banned them. It's too bad that it was done after world records were affected by suits rather than pure athleticism.
I don't see why Phelps doesn't wear one until the ban takes affect. If others are taking advantage of them and they're legal until the end of the year, he may as well take advantage of them too.
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