The Week That Was: Entries Released for Tokyo Olympics, Former FINA President Responsible for Ian Thorpe Leak

Sarah Sjostrom -- Photo Courtesy: Mine Kasapoglu / ISL

The Week That Was sponsored by Suitmate.

The swimming competition at the Tokyo Olympics is set to kick off in five days, and last week, entries were released for all 28 individual events. Swimmers such as Sarah Sjostrom and Katinka Hosszu made fascinating decisions when picking their individual events, and one event will feature a field so small only one swimmer will be eliminated before the semifinals. Meanwhile, an Australian newspaper reported that a former FINA President was responsible for leaking confidential information about Ian Thorpe, and Olympic medal ceremonies will be contactless.

Read the five biggest stories of the week in The Week That Was sponsored by Suitmate.

The Week That Was #1: Entries Confirmed for Olympic Swimming Competition

Sarah Sjostrom — Photo Courtesy: Mine Kasapoglu / ISL

By David Rieder

With the swimming competition at the Tokyo Olympics just 10 days away, FINA has published the official entry list for the eight days and 35 events (including 28 individual events). The list is not formatted as a psych sheet like those seen at most meets in the United States but instead as a list of entries by country and then further listed by event. The list includes the swimmers entered into the Olympics as relay-only competitors.

VIEW THE OFFICIAL TOKYO OLYMPICS ENTRY LIST HERE

From the entry list, we learned that Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom has decided to enter the 100 butterfly. Sjostrom had stated that she planned to focus on the 50 and 100 freestyle in Tokyo and that she was unsure if the 100 fly would be on her Olympic program after she fractured her elbow in February and then dealt with a months-long recovery process. Sjostrom could still change her mind and scratch the 100 fly, but it appears she is planning on participating.

Meanwhile, Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu has also had a rough year, and she will not be defending her 2016 Olympic gold medal in the 100 back. Hosszu is best known for her 200 and 400 IM talents, and she holds the world record in both events along with being four-time world champion and defending Olympic gold medalist in each. But while she also won the 100 back in a surprising turn of events in Rio, she will just swim the IMs and the 200 backstroke and 200 butterfly in Tokyo.

Finally, only 17 swimmers are entered into the women’s 200 butterfly. The event will be swum in three rounds, prelims, semifinals and finals, and with just 17 swimmers in the event, only one swimmer will be cut from the first round to the second.

The “A” cut in the 200 fly is 2:08.43, and 13 of the competitors entered have achieved that time during the Olympic qualifying period. Three of the remaining four swimmers entered are seeded with times in the 2:08-high or 2:09-low range, but the 17th swimmer is Honduras’ Julimar Avila Mancia, seeded at 2:18.38, so she is likely to be the only swimmer to not advance from the preliminaries, scheduled for the evening of Tuesday, July 27, to the semifinals the following morning.

#2: Former FINA President Alleged as Leak in 2007 Ian Thorpe Scandal

Ian Thorpe — Photo Courtesy: David Gray

By David Rieder

Shortly after Australian great Ian Thorpe announced his retirement, French newspaper L’Equipe reported that an out-of-competition drug test in 2006 had produced elevated levels of a testostorone and another hormone. While Thorpe never officially tested positive, the Australian Anti-Doping Agency did briefly investigate, and the episode was still considered a stain on the reputation of the five-time Olympic gold medalist and a national hero in Australia.

Now, 14 years later, The Sunday Telegraph is reporting that the then-President of FINA was the source who leaked the confidential report to L’Equipe with eyes on discrediting Thorpe. Mustapha Larfaoui helmed FINA from 1988 to 2009, and when the now-88-year-old Algerian spoke to the Telegraph, he did not deny speaking with the L’Equipe reporter but claimed he did not remember specifics of that conversation

“Sorry – it was 14 years ago,” Larfaoui said, according to the Telegraph. “I don‘t remember well that situation and I don’t want to say the wrong thing. We are not as young as we were. But, to tell you the truth, I was very happy with my period in FINA, and I have good souvenirs and memories.”

The Week That Was #3: Olympic Medal Ceremonies Will be Contactless, IOC Announces

weitzeil-brown-smoliga-hinds-medal-olympic-trials-olympics

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

By Dan D’Addona

The International Olympic Committee has announced that the medal ceremonies at the Tokyo Olympics will be contactless. Instead of an official placing the medal around the necks of the athletes, those athletes will now simply place the medals on themselves.

“The medals will not be given around the neck,” IOC President Thomas Bach said in according to The Associated Press . “They will be presented to the athlete on a tray, and then the athlete will take the medal him or herself.”

There are 339 medal events at this year’s Olympic Games, and tthere will be no handshakes or hugs during the medal ceremonies.

“It will be made sure that the person who will put the medal on tray will do so only with disinfected gloves so that the athlete can be sure that nobody touched them before,” he said.

#4: Michael Phelps Will Join NBC Sports Broadcast Booth for Swimming in Tokyo

Michael Phelps — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

By David Rieder

At last month’s U.S. Olympic Trials, 23-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps donned a headset at times over the meet’s first six days to offer commentary on the racing for NBC Sports. Now, Phelps will join the NBC crew of Dan Hicks and Rowdy Gaines to provide commentary for select races at the Tokyo Olympics. On an NBC Sports conference call previewing coverage of the Olympic Games, Gaines revealed that Phelps will be calling some races in Tokyo.

“As most of you know, this will be the first Olympics since 1996 that we haven’t had the GOAT, the greatest of all time, Michael Phelps,” Gaines said. “He will be joining Dan Hicks and (me) in the booth on a lot of races. And I know he’s going to offer some incredible insight on especially those races that he has won so many gold medals in.”

NBC Sports confirmed the news in a press release Monday, that Phelps will announce select races and also serve as a “Primetime Correspondent” on the broadcast. Three-time U.S. Olympian Elizabeth Beisel will also be in Tokyo as part of the NBC team, while Patrick Kinas and Amy Van Dyken will call preliminary races from NBC Sports’ base in Stamford, Conn.

Phelps was in attendance at Olympic Trials with his wife, Nicole, and the oldest of his three sons, Boomer, and he frequently walked down a few rows from his seat to join Gaines and Mike Tirico for races. While Phelps was often guarded with his public comments during his career, he has a very strong swimming acumen and was more willing at the 2021 Trials to offer his thoughts and analysis, including about why he thinks 200 IM winner Michael Andrew has trouble finishing strong on the freestyle leg.

The Week That Was #5: Speedo Sectionals Begin at Five Sites

Nicolas Albiero — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

By Dan D’Addona and David Rieder

The first batch of Speedo Sectionals meets took place from Thursday through Sunday at five sites across the country: Austin, Texas; Fullerton, California; Geneva, Ohio; Greensboro, North Carolina and Roseville, California.

On Thursday, Katharine Berkoff won the 50 free in Greensboro at 25.64, ahead of NC State teammate Kylee Alons (25.73). Michael Chadwick won the men’s 50 free in 22.59. Friday in Greensboro, Kentucky’s Mason Wilby won the 200 free in 1:49.68, just one hundredth of a second ahead of Louisvlle’s Nicolas Albiero (1:49.69). Meanwhile, NC State NCAA champion Katharine Berkhoff won the 100 backstroke in 59.32. Saturday’s action saw Albiero, who recently announced he will return to the Cardinals for a fifth season, putting together a strong 100 butterfly in 52.17, while Alons won the women’s 100 fly in 58.98.

The most impressive swim of the final night came from NC State’s Hunter Tapp. Tapp finished fourth in the 200 back at the U.S. Olympic Trials last month in 1:56.76, and he cruised to the win Sunday at the Greensboro Sectionals meet in 1:57.57. Tapp previously won the 100 back in Greensboro in 53.85.

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