By John Lohn
BEIJING, China, August 15. FOR two rounds, Rebecca Soni demonstrated impressive form, suggesting that she might have what it takes to knock off Leisel Jones in the 200 breaststroke. But, pulling off the feat would be a monumental task, one that the American was obviously prepared to embrace in Beijing.
Sitting in second to Jones through the opening 100 meters, Soni moved to the lead on the third lap and pulled away over the final 50 meters to capture gold and set a world record of 2:20.22. That mark bettered Jones' 2006 global standard of 2:20.54. Soni split 32.17 at the 50-meter mark, was 1:07.46 at the 100 and 1:43.70 at the 150. She covered the last lap in 36.52 to the 38.34 of Jones.
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"It just flowed," Soni said. "I tried to keep my stroke strong. It's something I've been working on. When I was in front, I didn't realize I was beating (Jones). It was a good place to be. I was nervous all day yesterday and this morning, but when I walked out the nerves passed. It was great."
The gold medalist in the 100 breaststroke, Jones easily picked up the silver medal, touching the wall in 2:22.05. Jones was more than two seconds slower than Soni over the last 100 meters, a testament to Soni's staying power. The bronze medal was picked up by Norway's Sara Nordenstam, who clocked a time of 2:23.02 for a European record.
Russian Yuliya Efimova took the fifth spot in 2:23.76 and sixth place went to Canadian Annamay Pierse in 2:23.77. The Japanese duo of Rie Kaneto (2:25.14) and Megumi Taneda (2:25.23) rounded out the field.
Results: 2008 Olympic Games - Swimming
Premium Members - Search More About: Rebecca Soni
Reaction Time Comments
August 14, 2008 This is great, totally amazing. Can't wait to see the race, dam NBC.
Biggest women upset since Aussie "Madam Butterfly" lost. Submitted by: Brasse
August 14, 2008 Now this is what I call an upset! Rivals that of Misty Hyman in 2000. Can't wait for that medley relay! Submitted by: SwimDER94
August 14, 2008 I found it both interesting and constructive that people were willing to question the credibility of some swims by the Chinese women yesterday on this site (I too remain sceptical). It would be great if the same people could give their thoughts on this swim... Submitted by: calisurfin
August 14, 2008 1.8 faster on the last 50! Jones saw her and tightened up with panic at the 150. Submitted by: crafto
August 14, 2008 I mean sure you can ask things about Soni if you want cali, but 2:04.1 by the chinese when they werent on the scene like Soni has been the past couple of yrs makes the chinese swims alot more tainted than Soni's swim does. Submitted by: WUswimmer
August 14, 2008 Right on, WU! Right on! Submitted by: paddles
August 14, 2008 Oh ye don't get me wrong if it's a case of "either...or..." I'd definitely say the Chinese winner, who did in fact come from nowhere! It's just Soni went 2:26 in 2005, 2006 was a 2:31, but then down to 2:23 last year and now a 2:20 low. Obviously I'd hope there is nothing tainted about it, but it would be reassuring to see her carry this form on and challenge Jones (if she doesn't retire in the meantime) at next year's World Champs. Submitted by: calisurfin
August 14, 2008 Hilarious. I was reading the Sydney Morning Herald to get the Aussie reaction to this.
Of course they are all in shock. They figured this gold, if any, was in the bag.
But in the 'comprehensive' article on Leisel's de-throning, I thought this little nugget of a quote was rich:
"hot favourite to win gold on the weekend"
In referring to the women's 4 x 100 Med.
And how do you figure that right now Aussie-land?
Let's see. Your backstroker is absolutely choking right now. She is over a full second behind Coughlin. Soni looks like a real threat to if not dead heat Jones, then at least stay in touch. Then comes the problem for the Aussies. If you swim Schipper in the fly, then Magnussen can beat her or at least dead heat her. If you swim Trickett in the fly, then you leave the Free to Campbell who has been absolutely awful at this meet. If you swim Schipper and leave it to Trickett, then you still have to catch Dara after the fastest relay split of all time on the Free relay.
I don't see the Aussies winning this one now.
Submitted by: rcoach
August 14, 2008 I'm sure you guys have the inside scoop on the Chinese women flyers and know for a fact that they are users.
Why don't you just tell us how you know for sure. This will be interesting.
I'm not saying you are right or wrong, but how do you know? Submitted by: WEK5000
August 14, 2008 this will be a REAL treat to watch! Can't wait! :o) Submitted by: paddles
August 14, 2008 Why are you so certain they are clean? Submitted by: paddles
August 14, 2008 BIG DITTO, WUswimmer Submitted by: mario2007
August 14, 2008 Paddles - I don't think anyone is certain that they are clean and no one is certain that they doped either. We should stop speculating and watch this play out.
Anyway, is it just me or did Amanda Beard not look too excited after Soni won her race? Submitted by: wub
August 14, 2008 rcoach, I think we should all stay tight lipped about the women's medley relay - let's not pull a Hall/Bernard.
WEK5000, If you look back in history this has happened on so many occasions now with the Chinese (subsequently PROVEN to be doping on a massive scale), that short of drawing blood by stealth - we will never know for certain. But the fact remains that these girls were nowhere on the map and DESTROY the world record. I would also add that our swimming program, and even that of the Australians (and you can add a few other European nations to that list) is so much more developed than that of the Chinese (it helps when you're a wealthier country with THAT many more pools).
As far as Soni goes, she's been in the 2:23/2:22 territory over the last year, and she just happened to pull off the swim of a lifetime.
Granted, we can't be 100% sure she's squeaky clean, but her momentum has been pointing this way for some time now. Submitted by: mario2007
August 14, 2008 Agreed. Submitted by: paddles
August 15, 2008 "But the fact remains that these girls were nowhere on the map and DESTROY the world record."
I'm not sure if this statement is true. In the 2005 World Championships, China got bronze in the 4x200 relay behind the US and Australia (4 seconds behind the US and 2 behind the Aussies). 3 of the swimmers that won silver on the relay the other night were also on the 2005 relay team. They obviously have been around for a few years. This just shows that, at least since 2005, they have been improving at around the same pace as the other teams to allow them to stay in the top three. Submitted by: wub
August 15, 2008 OK this is my reasoning on why there's cheating within the Chinese squad. Obviously I've no proof but surely people are allowed to make an educated guess. It's based purely on fina rankings and official World Champs results which I'm guessing are more than reliable.
So starting with the 200 fly. Given that the silver medalist ranked 4th at last year's World Champs and swam a 2.5 second PB it would be unfair to dismiss her performance for now at least. After all what she did was identical to that done by Soni today. However it's the gold medalist who really doesn't convince me. She went a 2:12 in 2006, 2:09 in 2007 and now a 2:04 low. The 2006 and 2007 swims were both done at Chinese nationals with the latter doubling as olympic trials. That's olympic trials 11 months before the Games which seems very, very early to me. So I'm guessing that while at camp she managed to cut those 5 seconds and with or without the LZR that's absolutely huge!
Then there's the 4x200 free relay: coming into the meet not a single Chinese was ranked top 20 while there was one ranked top 20 in 2007. At 2007 World Champs they placed 9th with one 1:59 split and rest being +2:00. Two remained for the Olympic final and yet the splits were 1:58, 1:56, 1:56 with the anchor throwing in a 1:54!! Where was the other half of this relay when 3 of the World Champ squad couldn't go sub 2:00?? Am I the only one that finds all of these improvements too good to be true? Submitted by: calisurfin
August 15, 2008 Soni had to come back from heart surgery for condition that affected her more in '06 so that slowed down her progression a bit afterwards, it otherwise would have been more steady. But she was national champion about 5 yrs ago I think so it's definitely been a gradual progression.
I feel responsible for starting all this finger pointing with my initial questions about the Chinese women but I didn't expect it to get so nasty. I honestly mistook one of them for a guy and I honestly hadn't heard of the two fliers, but I should have kept my mouth shut and waited to see if a pattern emerged over time. I was paranoid because of China's rep and Barcelone/Rome, etc. in the 90's But I want to say that in the big picture, China has still only won about 5 medals and US is close to 30. Their time drops ares were slightly more but only because they swim in less meets, at least ones that are widely reported. Time will tell if more patterns emerge and until we have adequate testing/appropriate and consistent penalties, the finger pointing doesn't solve anything. OK, even I'm getting bored reading this so I will sign off. :-P Submitted by: liquidassets
August 15, 2008 "I mean sure you can ask things about Soni if you want cali, but 2:04.1 by the chinese when they werent on the scene like Soni has been the past couple of yrs makes the chinese swims alot more tainted than Soni's swim does."
The Chinese swimmer swam a 2:07.2 and was 4th last year at Worlds. Internationally, Soni has been "on the scene" about just as much as the Chinese swimmer. Submitted by: wub
August 15, 2008 You guy should be suspsicious of EVERYONE, including Soni, the chinese, Phelps, etc. What are the odds, when doping clearly happens and helps significantly, that somehow, it always is that the person who is by far the best somehow isn't doping? Yeah. Ok.
Submitted by: gaash
August 15, 2008 So sad that we live in a time when everyone is so skeptical of people's accomplishments. I understand; but it's still sad. As for Soni, that was an incredible swim. She just went for it. It's not like she swam her normal race but suddenly had suspicious amounts of energy left at the end. They were almost a body length ahead of WR pace at the 100. Give her credit for putting it all on the line and going after it. Submitted by: Dizzy1203
August 15, 2008 I cant believe this i thought Jones was more of a lock on this event than the 100m. I just find it funny though that when the Chinese girls or Stephanie Rice swim big PB's you Americans get all suspicious however when its one of your own in question they did nothing wrong. Im not saying Soni cheated because I think shes a great swimmer however I think people need to let go of the whole drugs thing and credit a good swim. If they get found out to be a cheat later then so be it, you can start complaining them but they are innocent until proven guilty. Submitted by: coz
August 15, 2008 WUB,
You have the wrong info. 4th at worlds was Jiao Liuyang, who came in second. The winner Liu Zige did come out of nowhere, and as a matter of fact has only been drug tested by FINA ONCE! Zige was not even in the top 25 in the world in the 200 fly until 2007! (and that was a 2:09) Compare that to the fact that Soni has been on the scene and tested no fewer than 15 times since 2005 (not including trials) Soni's progression is
16 2:29.08
17 2:30.98
18 2:26.27
19 2:31.54 (surgery)
20 2:23.62
Add the fact that she has been training with Salo, who has a history of producing great breaststrokers, and it makes sense to me. Submitted by: brianmc
August 15, 2008 Please don't call us, "you Americans". That crossed the line. All that "we Americans" are saying (or writing) is that China has a HUGE history of doping (read CHEATING). Remember the Chinese swimmer caught smuggling hgh (or epo...I forget the specific drug) into Perth before the World Championships in 1998? Let me see now....if my memory serves me right, even the former DDR weren't that stupid as to be caught with performance enhancing drugs into a world championships or Olympic Games.
And how about the Chinese being busted at the Asian Games immediately after the 1994 World Championships when MANY of their 1994 world champions tested positive?
Ok, so Hardy tested positive. She is ONE person and not a TEAM. I don't think USA Swimming had anything to do with that nor the United States Government. Does anyone remember the Chinese national head coach (in 1994) arrogantly defending his swimmers at Rome by saying the American swimmers were LAZY and that HIS swimmers trained harder. Hell, even I could train hard if I was pumped full of performance enhancers.
If people want to bury their heads in the sand and defend a nation that has been caught time and time again doping their athletes, then let me dig you out of that hole and give you a pair of glasses.
And before you follow up with a "Where is the proof??" retort, don't bother. I will not dignify that question with an answer. I am not here to defend myself but to issue a wake up call that something stinks at the Cube and we had ALL better be aware that the evidence is pointing for another onslaught in Rome 2009 just like 1994.
I am finished with this. Let someone else take up the banner. Submitted by: paddles
August 15, 2008 Whose "suspicious" of this one great swim. I asssume Soni has been tested for ALL banned substances. So just enjoy the swim. It WAS a GREAT swim. We indeed do have great breaststroke athletes in the USA - Tara Kirk included. Who knows how SHE would have performed in the 100 breaststroke - IF she had been ALLOWED to, also. A fact none of us should forget when appreciating the Olympic perfection of Soni. That Kirk "coulda" done comparably we well in her event, too. Submitted by: Lorraine
August 15, 2008 "However it's the gold medalist who really doesn't convince me. She went a 2:12 in 2006, 2:09 in 2007 and now a 2:04 low. The 2006 and 2007 swims were both done at Chinese nationals with the latter doubling as olympic trials. That's olympic trials 11 months before the Games which seems very, very early to me."
The 2007 Chinese Nationals were NOT used as Olympics Trials. China had its own trials earlier this year (in May I think), and it was there that Liu Zige won in 2:07.76. I agree her improvement was staggering nevertheless. Submitted by: chris
August 15, 2008 Read my post again.
I DID NOT say they were clean, but how do you know that they are dirty? Submitted by: wek5000
August 15, 2008 Ye I did notice Beard wasn't overly impressed. The rumour mill must be in full flow in southern cali (there is the JH association after all). Submitted by: calisurfin
August 15, 2008 For those of you who are questioning if Soni is clean: she has been making huge strides (kinda like Stephanie Rice), which were interrupted by heart surgery. She was so much faster than she was at trials because I read in USA Swimming's magazine that she wasn't fully tapered at trials. Submitted by: SwimDER94
August 15, 2008 Great swims, unexpected swims, happen all the time. In the sport of swimming a swimmer's hard work and sacrifice doesn't always pay off when you think it should and then when you least expect it, an amazing swim happens. Over the years, as a swim parent, I have come to see that swimming is more of an art than a science. My question, as a parent of a swimmer getting ready to swim in college, is how could FINA allow a swimmer to be tested only once, referring to the Chinese gold medalist, before competing at the Olympics? There is no doubt that doping exists in all sports and if FINA or USADA can't afford to blood test ALL athletes then maybe every swimmer/athlete needs to be assessed a fee for all the testing that needs to be done to help insure fair competition. I would like to see this done at the high school level as well as at the Speedo Sectional level since it's common knowledge that any number of drugs can be had fairly easily by high school age swimmers. Just my thoughts. Submitted by: chapter13
August 15, 2008 Failing a test = guilty. Passing a test does not equal not-guilty. The truth is, passing a drug test means absolutely nothing. The thresholds are too high and everyone knows how to beat the tests for virtually everything.
Submitted by: gaash
August 15, 2008 I believe there are several reasons that a good number of people are willing to "see how this plays out".
For one, we would rather believe that those involved in sport at this level are above board. Second, it seems to me a lot of people aren't taking the time to "walk a mile" in the shoes of the swimmers who are playing by the rules. Think of it, if you are playing according to the rules, and these athletes sacrifice a lot over 4 years, only to out of the blue see your dreams go down the tube (or be postponed for 4 more years) because some unscrupulous athlete (and with the Chinese, it's their trainers) ROBBED you of that moment in history...
And what's worse, is that you can basically EXPECT this nowadays from the Chinese.
It's like calisurfin said - who holds their Olympic trials 11 months out? They do this kind of stuff all the time. You won't hear about them the year before a major competition, they go virtually untested, and then they show up and produce times that are way faster than anything they produced before. And it's only the women.
Our problem is that we don't want to believe that there are regimes in this world that are just about willing to do anything in order to win. The East Germans (another communist machine) did this systematically across the board - how many failed drug tests did they produce all those years - very few. Years later we find out that they did this with THOUSANDS of athletes to the extent that they are now suffering from a myriad of health issues.
Sad, outrageous, but TRUE. Submitted by: mario2007
August 15, 2008 Well Ouyeng Kunpeng just got a lifetime ban for testing poz for Clenbuterol (same drug as Hardy) so I think they are trying to improve. There may be isolated coaches/personnell leftover from the old "regime" who still believe in doping,but I'm relay not sure about that does anyone know? I remember Phil Whitten thought the Chinese were trying hard to clean up. I'd be interested to hear what he has to say about this whole thing; he's quite the expert at fishing out the truth; if he doesn't think there's anything systemic going on there probably isn't. Submitted by: liquidassets
August 15, 2008 I think this whole argument on both sides should come down to the old adage: "where there is smoke, there is fire". Sadly, it has proved far too true a proverb for sports over the years to be overlooked. We are entering an age where scrutiny and vigilence must be blind to the flag being flown.
And this should be applied fairly to whatever country has wisps of smoke coming up out of it.
What I find worrisome is that during this Olympic Games is that rather than celebrating the swims we have seen, this debate has come up and has been a hot one. Doesn't that tell us all (regardless of what side being taken) something about where we think our sport is?
Maybe I missed it, but I don't think one person on this post has come out and said "No, I don't think anyone is doping right now". It seems that the doping issue has been accepted as such and now it's just down to the detail of who and how many.
Anyone else find that a little sad? I do.
Submitted by: rcoach
August 15, 2008 Of course it's sad, but c'mon there's been alot of celebrating this week too. I've decided to ignore times for now and focus on the racing. But between the suits and the spectre of doping, it's a differnt world now , and harder than ever to know what's going on. If people's fears are exaggerated, (which I feel was the case with myself earlier this week), it's because the swimmers and fans don't trust the authorities in terms of ability to keep up with potential changes in the sport and police the sport adequately. Submitted by: liquidassets
August 15, 2008 Has there ever been a time in our sport when so many world records have been broken and by such large amounts? Is the LZR REALLY responsible for these records? If so, then isn't this suit as "bad" as doping? Isn't the sport supposed to be about who is the better SWIMMER rather than who has the better suit or the better doctor or pharmacologist?
In a way, it is sad. Call me old school, but I miss the days when the suit was secondary while the training and talent was primary to getting to the top.
Thoughts? Agree? Disagree? Submitted by: paddles
August 15, 2008 Everyone can pretty much wear the same suit, so that's not much of an issue for me. Same with doping when you think about it. If it was all legal, then really, the races would be much more "pure" in a way. Submitted by: gaash
August 15, 2008 Well since practically everyone is wearing them at the elite level and they are legal so far it's not doping. It will take a couple years to get used to the new times which now seem sorta meaningless to me, but we'll eventually forget about it unless they just keep upping the ante with more technology, in which csae they should separate the sport into different classes lke they do at open waters with wetsuits/not, etc. Submitted by: liquidassets
August 15, 2008 I agree to a certain extent, paddles. It's a really interesting time for swimming, because so many records are falling and by so huge a margin. Is the suit the difference? Maybe. But we also have to consider all the other factors: people are training smarter, focusing more on technique, etc. People film their strokes and plug them into computers to analyze the stroke efficiency, for instance. They didn't do that kind of stuff 20 years ago. It's a different world.
Also, keep in mind that sometimes it just takes fast swimming to create fast swimming. Fast times feed on themselves. Consider: Before Roger Bannister, nobody thought a 4 minute mile was possible, and now even the high school record is a lot faster. All it takes is for someone to raise the bar and then everyone follows. Before Phelps first broke records in the 200 fly and 400 IM, they stood at 1:55 and 4:11, respectively. Now they're 1:52.0 and 4:03, and several people are right there with him. Same goes for other events. There are too many unknowns to determine exactly WHY swimming has become so fast. I personally think it's worth just sitting back and marveling at what people are doing. I mean, how fast can people really go?! There HAS to be a limit, just by physics and the law of diminishing returns. Nobody will ever go a zero second 50 free (for example), so where does it end? Submitted by: Dizzy1203
August 15, 2008 We are living in some crazy times. ;o) I remember when de Bruin swam her 56.6 in Sydney and thought, "WOW! The greatest female swim in history!" But now Rice's 4:29 in the I.M. and Federica's 1:54 in the 200 free are simply astounding (to me). There used to be talk about limits in swimming. Waaaaaay back when in the late 1960s, the talk about Debbie Meyer's times scratching what they thought were the upper limits for female distance swimmers and now, the women are getting ready to go under four minutes in the 400 not to mention Janet Evans' 800 record in jeopardy this evening....
Sorry for the rambling. This has been a phenomenal year and it could just be the beginning of something really special. Submitted by: paddles
August 15, 2008 To borrow from your name, Dizzy, the times are DIZZYING to say the least! Submitted by: paddles
August 15, 2008 sorry if i offended you paddles by calling you americans honestly that wasnt my intention, all i was trying to demonstrate was that a lot of people on this site, and the majority of people who comment on this site are americans, and other swimming sites are quick to criticise swimmers of other nationalities when they have a great swim but when its one of their own swimmers they have no suspision at all.
Yes I do know that China has a history is drug use but Australia doesnt and people like Stephanie Rice and Libby Trickett still get criticised. Also it would be unfair to judge swimmers based on the past acts of other swimmers.
All i meant by my previos post and my last comment in particular in which I believe you misunderstood was that it is unfair that great athletes these days such as Phelps draw suspicions over drug use just because of what athletes have done in the past. Therefore i say that athletes are innoncent until proven guilty.
Sorry if my previous post offended you in any way , I was merely expressing my opinion and believe that you misunderstood it. Submitted by: coz
August 15, 2008 I was just wondering: how much has the Norwegian girl (bronze medalist in 2:23.02) improved in Beijing, compared with her pre-Olympic times? Submitted by: chris
August 16, 2008 cesar you legend! what a swim! i was going bonkers yelling at the tv.
the WR will be yours soon. Submitted by: medina
August 16, 2008 it's all good, coz. Submitted by: paddles
August 16, 2008 One big change from the past ... WEIGHTS! In the future we will see many more swimmers looking like Alain Bernard... That in combination with LESS (yes, less) yardage will bring times down even more, at least in 200 and lower races.
Submitted by: gaash
August 16, 2008 damn. why are all my comments appearing here?!
i can't believe the things dara torres is achieving at this age. 24.07 and over the age of 40? looking at the top few finishers, sub-24 finals will only be a matter of time. Submitted by: Tornado
August 17, 2008 Ha it is kind of funny chris how we only become suspicious of the Chinese and nobody thinks twice about what the Norwegian girl did. From what I can figure she went 2:31 in 2007 and didnt even rank top 150 in 2006!! Wow just realising that what she did far outweighs even what the Chinese did imo. I suppose ppl just dont feel as threatened by a scandinavian girl hiding out in the fjords of Norway, but even so. Does anyone know where this girl came form?? Is she in the collegiate system? Submitted by: calisurfin
August 18, 2008 as much as liu zige surprised me with her swim in the finals, i will not go to the extend of crying foul. innocent until proven guilty. just like the many many other swimmers from many different nations (USA too) who have made similar, if not greater drops in recent times.
anyway, i am surprised that neither swimnews nor swimworldmag has reported on this matter... but liu has actually spent considerable time training with schipper and her coach, ken wood. in fact, there has been a small controversy because ken wood has sold his training program for schipper to the chinese. here is the article:
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,24197998-5007190,00.html Submitted by: tornado
August 19, 2008 cali...China has a HISTORY of cheating. Hence the suspicion. Norway? Come on. Norway???? Submitted by: paddles
August 19, 2008 paddles...I'm certainly not saying that the Chinese didnt cheat, just that there r other ppl going unnoticed at the meet who warrant just as much investigation! And come on, you can hardly say somebody isnt doping based on the country they come from. Any chance you remember Michelle Smith, the triple gold medallist in Atlanta....?? Hailing from no other than the systematic doping powerhouse that is Ireland lol. Submitted by: calisurfin
August 19, 2008 What happened and WHY on the 21st of July by USA Swimming is still the 64,000 question. The Olympics coming and going does not "close" this issue. Nor should it. Ethically and legally so...
USA Swimming may say they had no "choice" on the 21st of July but to sit around and, in essence do nothing in regard to concrete legal evidence they had - on the 21st of July (not August 1st) that they they indeed had an unequivocally legally ineligible swimmer on the USA Swim Team according to FINA rules. NOTHING. And yet they knew Jessica Hardy as of July 21st could not swim for the USA. They KNEW.
Her right to "arbitration" was (and is) a separate legal issue. LEGALLY naming alternates on the 21st would not have emperiled Jessica Hardy's arbitration processs one bit. So indeed how LEGALLY could USA Swimming sit around and allow the 21st of July to come and go - and NOT name two alternates to the USA team - on that date?
No need to banter until time immorium (in my opinion) as to the date Jessica Hardy chose to resign from the team and/or when the lab tests came and why. Or why Rebecca Soni and Kara Lynn Joyce were allowed to swim the events they did. Irrelevant.
All that matters is that on the 21st of July USA Swimming CHOSE to do nothing. Not one thing. And as a consequence more ethically and legally compoundingly chose to "illegally" (in my opinion) and punitively ban two rightfully qualified USA Swimmers from the USA swim team - on the day of the deadline. And forevermore.
Submitted by: Lorraine
August 19, 2008 True, but Smith's dutch husband had been a doping proponent. Is that true about the Chinese working out with Schipper? Schippers mother was quoted last week as saying she didn't know who they were. Submitted by: liquidassets
August 19, 2008 Writing about Michelle, when I was in Ireland just after the Atlanta Games, the Irish were vehemently PRO Smith-DeBruin, saying that the "Yanks" were jealous of her victories, etc.
And then, after enough had come out about the doping suspicions being legitimate, and I was back in Ireland once again visiting friends and family, oh how their tune had changed. Granted, it took a couple of years and the damage had been done to those who had competed "clean", but the truth DID come out. (It got very nasty with threats of law suits...etc.)
My point is that time will finally tell. The DDR FINALLY were busted. The Chinese were busted. Smith-DeBriun was busted. Marion Jones was busted. There really is truth to Karma.
Liquidasset was right about Smith-DeBruin's husband. He was tossed off the Duth Track and Field team after winning a silver medal in the world championships for testing positive for a performance enhancer. Plus, he claimed that his wife's performances in Atlanta were because of his special training methods which he "borrowed" from track and field....LOL Yeah, RIGHT!
Submitted by: paddles
August 19, 2008 Continuing with Michelle and having lived in Ireland before....back then Ireland knew little or nothing about swimming (and Id say have ltl or no interest even today) and there wasn't even a single 50m pool, so only those few involved in the sport could really see what was happening. To everyone else she was the quintessential Catholic girl-next-door come Olympic heroine and after the self styled Irish/American president Bill Clinton spoke out and defended her and even visited her in the Olympic Village, it was only to be expected that 99% of the Irish would believe that the "Yanks" were simply jealous of her victories.
True, the mood did change after the testing scandal but things never got particularly nasty with regard the general public and ppl just simply stopped talking about her. Shes been more or less deleted from sporting history in Ireland. It has been said that if she'd admitted to what she did the Irish would have been typically forgiving (with Gaelic Games, Ryder Cup, Six Nations Rugby, Premiership Soccer all arguably considered more sacred sporting institutions than the Olympics by the Irish media and general public), but instead she was kind of treated like the misbehaving child that must be hidden from visitors and the media just left her alone. A lot of the sympathy came from the fact that her father, (who was the driving force behind her as an age grouper and ultimately making Seoul), was well received when he came on radio and emotionally defended his daughter saying that how could such a committed girl who trained twice on her wedding day possibly be taking drugs. Being a father blind to his daughter's faults I suppose he couldn't see that it was actually drugs that allowed it.
Coincidentally, I attended an age group training camp back in 1997 held by Michelle Smith with her husband by her side every inch of the way of course. We too were told of the track and field methods which would be revealed once she retired....hmmm still waiting on that one (or maybe she's planning a comeback...London 2012 haha). Altho back in the day we probably believed her lol. To the nation no Irish speaking girl, raised by respectable Catholic parents in a rural Dublin village, would be as calculating as to actually cheat, take on the world and actually come out victorious....albeit temporarily ha. So all I'm saying is that regardless of background nobody is above the realm of suspicion whether they be Chinese, Norwegian, Irish, American..... Submitted by: calisurfin
August 19, 2008 And I agree 100%.
Can you imagine how Michelle's parents felt when they had to face the truth about their daughter? Wow....very sad for them.
Back in 1997, while in Dublin, I bought Michelle's autobiography. In hindsight, it is fascinating how the mind of a cheater works. Reading the book, she had ME convinced that she had achieved everything above board without drugs and mega doses of miles. Oh well.....
It is painful when you believe in another's spirit and drive only to later learn that their "gain" was through unscrupulous means. Submitted by: paddles
August 19, 2008 Yep had that book as well.....signed and all at camp! I read recently that her father said he has never had it in him to ask her directly if she'd taken drugs. At the time he said the last contact they'd had was an email 6 months beforehand which was kind of sad considering the amount of time he'd invested when she was a teenager.
By a sheer coincidence, the first time I met her I was travelling from Amsterdam to Dublin midweek in October 1995 wit family (she'd just won Euros that summer). We were travelling last minute on stand-by and she was the other person on the list! It was only years later when it was released in the press that FINA had expressed concern to Irish Swimming over not being able to track her down throughout 1995 that the whole travelling from Holland to Dubin last minute on stand-by began to make sense! We even got a picture taken with her there and then and she even gave advice(as in early mornings are too much for a 9 yr old)! Then as we were leaving my Mam said, "so whens the next big competition?" and she said, "Well I suppose the Olympics next summer." Little did we know... Submitted by: calisurfin
August 19, 2008 That is the coolest story, cali. And now she's an attorney???? Submitted by: paddles
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