War in the swimming pool

Australia and the United States are locked in a ferocious battle for swimming supremacy at the Beijing Games

KUALA LUMPUR: The Australian swim team and their arch-rivals, the United States, bunkered down at pre-Olympic camps Sunday as they fine-tune for what is set to be a titanic battle in Beijing.

The Australian squad, including six world record holders, arrived in Kuala Lumpur for their final week-long training session while the Michael Phelps-led Americans dived into neighbouring Singapore.

They flew in with all indications that the traditional swimming superpowers will make a big splash in Beijing’s futuristic venue, the ‘Water Cube’, where the 32 swimming events will be held.

The high-tech building, sheathed in a Teflon-like outer membrane that resembles water bubbles, will provide a fitting backdrop for a controversial new piece of swimming technology — Speedo’s LZR Racer swimsuit.

Swimmers wearing the form-fitting bodysuit have set countless world records in the months since its release in February.

But Australia and the United States are facing an ever-increasing challenge from swimmers from around the globe, and they will have to find a way to cope with an unfamiliar format of morning finals and evening heats.

Australia’s high-water mark is eight gold medals at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, and its swimmers came close to eclipsing that at the last Games in Athens with seven.
And hopes are high after they captured eight gold medals at last year’s world championships in Melbourne. Five-time gold medallist Ian Thorpe may be gone, but Australia has developed another stream of outstanding swimmers led by Libby Trickett, Leisel Jones and the much-improved Eamon Sullivan.

Grant Hackett, gunning for an unprecedented third consecutive Olympic 1,500m gold medal, said his key aim was to prove that he still has what it takes after being hopelessly out of sorts at the world championships.

“What I want out of this Olympics is to finish with absolutely no regrets,” he told reporters over the weekend before leaving Singapore for Kuala Lumpur.

“The important element is making sure I get the absolute best out of myself, that I swim the fastest that I can.

“I’ve done everything right in my preparation, and if I touch the wall knowing I’ve done that, that’s what I take most pride in.”  The Americans, always formidable in the Olympic pool, will launch a squad of proven performers in their bid to maintain their swimming superiority.

Phelps, who won six gold and two bronze in Athens, is again the leader of a men’s team that could conceivably approach the record of 12 gold medals captured by the American men in Montreal in 1976. He will tackle five individual events, in four of which he holds the world record — the 200m freestyle and 200m butterfly and the 200m and 400m individual medleys.

Phelps will also race three relays as he chases Mark Spitz’s 1972 record of seven golds at one Games.

“I hope so,” was all he had to say when asked if he was confident as the team touched down in Singapore.

Other key US swimmers include Aaron Peirsol, who owns the 100m backstroke world record outright and shares the 200m mark with teammate Ryan Lochte, and Katie Hoff, who has posted the fastest times of 2008 in the 200m and 800m freestyles.

The team though has been rocked by Jessica Hardy’s positive doping test in the lead-up. She plans to appeal but her status for Beijing remains uncertain.