The Week That Was: 2016 Paralympic Games Begin In Rio

Photo Courtesy: Rio 2016

This week saw the kickoff of the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro which saw a slew of Paralympic and world records fall in the first few days of competition. Read below to get the major highlights from those Games in addition to the other news that happened during The Week That Was!

The Week That Was #5 – Jon Urbanchek To Be Inducted Into Michigan Hall Of Honor

Photo Courtesy: Greg Smith – USA Today Sports

This week it was announced that Jon Urbanchek, the former Head Coach of the University of Michigan men’s swimming and diving team, will be inducted into Michigan’s Hall of Honor at the end of the month. Urbanchek was the head coach of the men’s program from 1982-2004, during which he guided the Wolverines to 13 Big Ten titles and an NCAA Championship title in 1995. During his tenure as head coach, Michigan also won 10 straight conference championships from 1986-95. For his work with the program, he was named Big Ten Coach of the Year eight times, while he was also the NCAA and ASCA Coach of the Year in 1995. Urbanchek is also well-known for his work with Olympic athletes. The coach has had a total of 26 swimmers at Michigan represent their countries at the Olympics, where they won a combined 17 medals. Urbanchek was also named to the U.S. Olympic coaching staff as an assistant coach in the 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games while also serving as a special assistant in 2008 and 2012.

The Week That Was #4 – Twitchell, Peterson Win RCP Tiburon Mile

Jul 12, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Chip Peterson of the United States (top) races Richard Weinberger of Canada in the men's open water swim during the 2015 Pan Am Games at Ontario Place West Channel. Mandatory Credit: Erich Schlegel-USA TODAY Sports

Photo Courtesy: Erich Schlegel/USA Today Sports Images

Two Americans, open water swimmers Chip Peterson and Ashley Twitchell, took home first place at the annual RCP Tiburon Mile on Sunday. The race took place in the San Francisco Bay and each swimmer earned $2,500 in prize money for their wins. The swim marked Twitchell’s third straight win in the event after taking home the gold in 2013 and 2015 (the event was not contested in 2014 due to weather). Peterson, who has long been a mainstay on the American open water scene, added to his title from way back in 2010. Twitchell won the race on the run in on the beach to finish ahead of Great Britain’s Keri-Anne Payne, who was a silver medalist in the 5k in Beijing. Both completed the race in 26:06. Peterson had a relatively bigger margin of victory, finishing six seconds ahead of Australia’s Michael Sheil. American’s took third in both the men’s and women’s races, with Dan O’Connor and Emily Brunemann both grabbing bronze.

The Week That Was #3 – U.S. Announces 2016-2017 National Team

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

This week USA Swimming announced the 106 member strong roster that will make up the 2016-2017 National Team. In order to qualify for the U.S. National Team, a swimmer must finish among the top six swimmers in the country across each Olympic event at the Olympic Trials or U.S. Open. “This team represents the best of the best in the United States,” commented Frank Busch, USA Swimming National Team Director. Looking forward to the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Busch commented “There is a great mix of veterans and talented newcomers on the 2016-17 National Team, and we look forward to building on the record-setting performances in Rio heading into the next Olympic quad.” There are 21 first-timers on the 2016-2017 National Team, with 8 members of the 2015-2016 National Junior Team making the jump to the National Team. Featuring 37 medalists from the 2016 Rio Olympics, the full list can be found online here.

The Week That Was #2 – Lochte, Three U.S. Swimmers Given Additional Penalties

Photo Courtesy: Swimming World Magazine

The saga of the four U.S. swimmers who were involved in the vandalism of a bathroom in Rio following the Olympic competition continued this week, with the four U.S. swimmers each receiving additional punishment from USA Swimming. Jimmy Feigen, Gunnar Bentz, and Jack Conger each received a four month suspension from domestic and international competition. The terms of their suspension forfeits their monthly stipend and medal funding from the 2016 Olympics, prevents them from accessing USOC training centers, and removes them from the Team USA visit to the White House and the invited list for the 2016 Golden Goggles event. Ryan Lochte, for his part, received a harsher punishment given his role in the incident and subsequent false testimony given to Rio police. Lochte will serve a 10 month suspension from National and International competition (through June 30, 2017), which means he will not be eligible to compete at the 2017 World Championships. FINA also released a statement agreeing with USA Swimming’s sanctions of the swimmers and stating they would not provide any additional punishment.

The Week That Was #1 – 2016 Paralympic Games Begin In Rio

Photo Courtesy: Rio 2016

The Paralympic Games kicked off this week in Rio de Janeiro and through the first four days of swimming competition numerous World and Paralympic records came down. All in all, a staggering twenty-five events saw new world records set throughout the beginning of the meet, with even more Paralympic records set. The men’s 200 freestyle S2 is a great example of the stunning record-setting going on at these Games. In finals, China’s Liu Benying absolutely shattered his teammate Zou Liankang’s world record from prelims when he won gold in 3:41.54, taking nearly 8 seconds off of the record. Even more impressive, however was that the prelims world record had broken the old world record by 23 seconds. Prior to Rio the world record in the men’s 200 free S2 was a 4:12.76, which means that the fourth place swimmer (Yang Yang, also from China, who finished in 4:11.20) would have been under the world record 24 hours earlier but still missed a medal in the event. Currently, Brazil’s Daniel Dias leads the medals table with four total, including one gold, two silver, and a bronze. Ukraine’s Denys Dubrov, who broke the 200 IM SM10 world record on the fourth night, also has four medals to his name, with one gold, one silver, and two bronze. For all of the coverage of the 2016 Paralympic Games, including full recaps of prelims and finals, head over to our Event Landing Page.

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