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IRVINE, California, August 21. COACH Bob Bowman has confirmed that Michael Phelps has scratched the men's 200 IM during the final day of competition at the Pan Pacific Championships.
"He is going to scratch the 200 IM so he can concentrate on the relays tonight," Bowman said. "The reason for that is that it's going to take three really good swims to get through [the 200 IM and relays], and at this point neither one of us think that he's got three good ones in him."
Phelps is gambling a potential spot at the World Championships next year, since he will be unable to defend his second-slotted time of 1:55.94 from the U.S. Nationals. Ryan Lochte already owns the top spot with a 1:54.84, and the Phelps braintrust will be looking for Phelps' 1:55.94 to hold up to a Tyler Clary challenge. Clary's current best time this year is a 1:59.19 from U.S. Nationals.
Clary, however, has definitely played the roll of spoiler this week as the person who has bumped both Michael Phelps and Aaron Peirsol into potential B final swims so far. The spoiler roll could definitely expand if he could bump Phelps completely out of the IM events at Worlds next year.
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August 21, 2010 What a disappointment. An aquaintance that I met in the stands at the meet on Thursday told me had arranged to take off of work this evening only because his kid wanted to watch Phelps vs. Lochte in the 200 IM.
I think this is a mental thing; I don't completely buy his excuse. I think he could have done a 1:57 to qualify in the IM and then (regardless of whether he qualified in IM or how he did if in final) still beaten the Aussies and Japanese on the relay, regardless of how he did in the IM finals. Adding up the US's "worst" times between prelims and finals here, and the best times for AUS and JPN, Phelps could still go over a second slower than his 50.8, and from a flying start too, and the USA would very likely still win the relay.
Yes he's out of shape, so no doubt he's exhausted, but Lochte said the same thing yesterday after prelims and said finals was "not going to be fun". But he went out and got it done, even tho he had Clary pushing him every step of the way. The reality is Phelps could have done it physically, but: if he qualified for finals in the IM, he probably would have lost to Lochte again, had a slower time than Nationals, and not done as well on the relay as he liked as well. So no, it wouldn't have been a fun evening for him. But he let his physical status influence his mental game. And if you don't put in the work all year, you can't expect to have fun all the time. And even if you do put the work in, like Lochte did, it's still not always fun, like he said. For the sake of the fans and your own dignity, suck it up!
I've been resisting all the Phelps bashers this week, but now it seems I've become one of them. Am I being too hard on him? Submitted by: liquidassets
August 21, 2010 Honestly, yes. I don't understand the mentality that athletes are somehow obligated to fans. If you plan to go to a meet, know that there's a possibility someone will withdraw from an event. There's been an uproar about Phelps scratching this event, but hardly any about Hardy not swimming the 100m breast, and she's the WR-holder. It could have been an epic race between her and Soni. What's the difference between Hardy and Phelps other than fame? She's been having trouble with her breast in practice for the last year, has probably been mentally affected by Soni, and the 100m breast conflicted with another event. Sound familiar? It's totally her prerogative to decide to withdraw, for those reasons or ANY OTHER. Same with Phelps. None of these athletes should be making decisions about what events they swim based on whether it'll disappoint fans. He doesn't need to justify himself to the public. And his dignity? Please. Even Lochte told reporters that he didn't think Phelps was trying to "avoid" him. "No, just because I know him and he's not that kind of person who would hide away from anyone. He's a racer." Ultimately, this meet is only important to him as a qualifier for the World Championship team. He made a calculated decision and will deal with the consequences if Clary someone manages to top his time from nationals. Submitted by: mollie12
August 21, 2010 He had three good swims yesterday Bob. Baffling decision. He'd better be 49 mid on that fly relay split. Submitted by: ShortChange
August 21, 2010 Not baffling at all... doesnt want to lose to lochte and he knows he would. he is a sore loser. it would be hilarious if somehow clary can beat phelps' time from nationals!!! Submitted by: CAcoach
August 21, 2010 I don't think Clary can drop 3 seconds. Mollie, I did think Hardy should have swum the 100 breast and was disappointed she didn't; even her own coach wanted her to, and tried to get her to at least swim the prelims. She's been thru alot and more mentally fragile than phelps, at least up until recently as his vulnerability is starting to show. But she's been so inconsistent over the years, that the real headliner in that race was actually Soni vs. Jones anyway.
While swimmers shouldn't base their decisions on fans desires, it should be at least one factor in the decision. If Phelps was sick, injured, in danger of losing the relay, or it was earlier in the meet I'd give it a pass. I admired him for trying the 400 IM despite the odds. But it's the last night and alot of kids came out to see him race Lochte. I also noticed when I was at the meet that he didn't interact with the fans like the other swimmers.
Anyway, GoldMedalMel agrees with you, not me. Here's a link to his take on it. Check out the comments where someone makes the comparison to Phelps and Thorpe toward the end of his career and raises the possibility of "massive burnout":
http://www.goldmedalmel.typepad.com/mel/2010/08/a-dozens-text-messages-hit-my-iphone-this-morning-on-the-last-day-of-pan-pacific-championship-competitionphelps-scratches-ou.html
Submitted by: liquidassets
August 21, 2010 i hope clary beats his time, since michael didn't have the guts to step up to his status as the best swimmer in history and swim the 200 im and the relay
***Phelps better pull a 49.9 since he has his "needed" rest Submitted by: bbrswimmer24
August 21, 2010 bbrswimmer24: Phelps did a 50.58, but he could have done anything under 52 and they still would have won the relay, of course Adrian would have also had to sweat it out with a big deficit going into the anchor. You're right he did lack guts; at the beginning of the week he said it was going to be a mental game and he did lack confidence ultimately, being out of shape.
On the other hand, after reading Mel Stewarts article, the comments after it, and some rumors on other swim bulletin boards, I'd rather have Phelps pass on this one event than lose him or have him deteriorate further mentally, if he's truly that burned out. I may have underestimated that. Submitted by: liquidassets
August 23, 2010 I take what Bowman says as the truth, because I think he and Phelps have a better understanding of Michael's physical capabilities right now than people speculating on the Internet. I especially don't believe it has anything to do with losing to Lochte again. If he was afraid of that, then why would he 1) enter the 200IM in the first place, and 2) enter the 400IM where he hasn't been training for it and is struggling with races half the distance? And it's not like he has some history of backing down from races he knows he won't win (200 free in Athens, anyone? And that's just the biggest example I can think of).
Nor do I believe it's about lacking guts or dignity or being a sore loser. Phelps has been on top in his events for so long now that people tend to forget that the guy is actually human and not a machine (or an "alien" or the "god of sport" or from the future), and therefore has physical limitations. So he's within his rights to give up an event at a distance that he's clearly been struggling with recently, endurance-wise, to concentrate on giving the best he can still give to the relay (which he's stated more than once are his favorite races anyway).
I don't think the scratch was baffling at all; in fact, before the prelims I was thinking that, if I were in Michael's position, I might scratch at least the final in order to concentrate on the relay. I was expecting him to do that with the 400IM if he had made the A-final there as well.
The three good swims he had the previous day are different, because he "only" had to swim 100 meters twice (and in an event where he was the clear favorite so he wouldn't have to go as hard in the prelims as others just to try and make the A-finals) and then lead-off for 200 meters on the relay, as opposed to swimming 200 meters twice (assuming he made the A-final and didn't scratch it) and then have to swim 100 meters AND make up a deficit. Some people, in their predictions, said the men's medley relay might be closer than previously thought and maybe Phelps felt the same way and wanted to be as fresh as he could to give it his all. And I think he would want to give it his all, not just leave it up to his teammates, so even if Nathan could have made up the deficit and won it (which it looks like he certainly could have), I don't think Michael would want to settle for that. And he's been fine at the 100 meter races, so Friday was a little more manageable for him. Submitted by: K.S.
Reaction Time responses do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions
of Swimming World Magazine or SwimmingWorldMagazine.com.
Reaction Time is provided as a service to our readers.
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