By Craig Lord<\/p>\n
INDIANAPOLIS, October 7. WHEN Kaitlin Sandeno, of the United States, was bashed in the eye with an Australian kickboard and suffered a concussion in the warm-up for racing at the world short-course championships yesterday, medical opinion suggested she might want to withdraw. Her response? Three gold-medal performances that left Michael Phelp's lone victory in the shade. <\/p>\n
There was no truth in the rumour that Sandeno's stealing of the
\nlimelight was behind Phelps's withdrawal from the 400 metres medley
\nyesterday, joked organisers at the magnificent Conseco Fieldhouse NBA hall,
\nwhich has been transformed into an exciting temporary aquatic arena for the
\nfive-day championships. Rather, the winner of six Olympic gold medals in
\nAthens had suffered a strain to his lower back (see Phillip Whitten's Flash! story today) and doctors had prescribed rest, all good news for Britain's Robin Francis, who found himself among the title favorites before the race. <\/p>\n
Phelps, who intends to compete in four other events here, was not alone
\nin the chiropractor's clinic: Britain's Mark Foster, who progressed
\ncomfortably through the qualification heats of the 50 metres freestyle in
\n22.05sec, 0.23sec behind Jose Meloans, the Argentinian who beat him for the
\ntitle in 2002. <\/p>\n
Foster, who has won the title three times before, said: "It felt quite
\ngood considering I visited the chiropractor for lower-back pain twice
\nyesterday…but it's looking good at the moment." He is one of five British
\nmedal hopes here, success expected last night and today from James Hickman
\nin the 100 metres butterfly, Francis and Alison Sheppard on medley and
\nCassandra Patten over 800 metres freestyle. <\/p>\n
Those with back pain might wish to look to Sandeno, Olympic silver medal
\nwinner, for lessons in toughness: "I didn't know whether I was going to
\nrace today but I'm here to have fun and enjoy challenges. The truth is
\nthat, while I don't want to play down what I did today, I lived in a dorm
\nfor three years at USC (University of California) and when we raced we did
\nfour events a session with 15-minutes in between. That's tough but it gives
\nme the edge on all these other girls."<\/p>\n
She added: "I'm just having fun here but I had a slight concussion this
\nmorning in the warm-up and I didn't know whether I'd be able to swim
\ntoday. It was a huge challenge but Mark Schubert said that I was in better
\nshape than I thought – he told me to just have fun and I'm riding high on
\nconfidence and the adrenalin of Athens.<\/p>\n
Sandeno was accidentally hit in the eye by an Australian swimmer's
\nkickboard while wearing goggles with no rubber rims. "I just got a big
\nheadache and the doctor said it was up to me whether I wanted to swim but
\nthat I should be careful because I had a slight concussion. <\/p>\n
After Indianapolis, she will take a two to three-week break but said: "I
\nget itchy feet if I'm not training so while I won't be in the water I'll be
\nkeeping fit doing some cross-training and that kinda thing." She will also
\nbe doing swim clinics and will spend only 13 days at home during the next
\n31. "It's my job. That's what I do. It's fun."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Craig Lord INDIANAPOLIS, October 7. WHEN Kaitlin Sandeno, of the United States, was bashed in the eye with an Australian kickboard and suffered a concussion in the warm-up for<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n