Swimming finals day 2

Again another exciting day of finals. And i though the 1st day was amazing, it was nothing compared to today.

Libby Trickett

I never thought of her as a butterfly swimmer. But boy did she get me wrong. I was rooting for Jessica Shipper or Li Tao to take home the gold. Trickett led from start to finish in a.....lets say entertaining swim in the 100m butterfly. Not amazing if you compare to the swims after this but have my respect none the less.

Kosuke Kitajima

Again the Asians show their power. Kitajima was the defending champion in the 100m breastroke and was under a lot of pressure. Brendan Hansen, the man who stole the world record from Kitajima have been horrible in the heats and the semis. I was already counting him out and sure of Kitajima taking the gold. But Alexander Dale Oen broke the Olympics record in both the heats and the semis and was keeping an eye on him. After the whistle blew, they all jumped in and was all level. As the reached the 50m mark, Kitajima was 3rd. But he soon powered home overtaking Oen and won gold. In the end, it was a world record for Kitajima and Oen and Durbocsh taking home silver and bronze. I'm also glad Hansen didn't win anything. He has a record of being a sore loser.

Rebecca Adlington

This was the 2nd best race at this Olympics so far. This was build up as a very much anticipated match with all the finalist having close qualifying times. The big stars were those of Adlington, Katie Hoff, Pereglini(world record holder), and Laure Manoudou(defending champion). As many expected, they all were pretty much synchronised until the 200m mark. At this point, Katie Hoff started to make her move and it was a splendid move. She powered in front of the pack and at the 350m mark, she was already a full body length in front. Many expected her to do a Phelps, which includes beating the pack with such style. But at the last 25m, Adlington suddenly had a burst of energy and chased Hoff to the wall. Everyone, including Hoff, thought the American had won it. But to her dissapointment, Adlington beat her at the final touch. A shocked Adlington celebrated while 2 lanes away from her, a dejected Katie Hoff couldn't look at the score board.

Team USA

Now for the best ever race i have seen in my entire life. Alain Bernard(the world record holder in the 100m freestyle) have boastfully said that the French team will smash the USA in this 4x100m freestyle relay. With the 2 teams lining up beside each other, this was to be a thrilling swim. After the 1st swimmer, Australia powered home the 1st with Eamon Sullivan with Michele Phelps of USA not far behind. Soon the USA and French overtook the Aussies and started their battle. It stayed like this until the final swimmer jumped in. At this time the French were already a full body length in front of the USA. And with Alain Bernard as their anchor, most would have expected a France win. But with 25m to go, Jason Lezak of USA came from a full body length behind to catch up with Bernard and beat him to the wall in the last second. Their time difference was only 0.07. Phelps was the happiest among all as he stays on track for his quest for his 8 gold mark.