2009 Gator Holiday Classic

http://drsm.org/Championship_Meet_Data/Gator_Psych3.pdf

Ryan is entered in two races in this weekend's Gator Holiday Classic: 50 free and 100 free. According to the psych sheet, the 50 free is event #70 (Sat.) and the 100 free is event #118 (Sun.). Hope the races go well!

12/1/09 - Updated: new psych sheet and Ryan is not entered after all

http://www.drsm.org/Championship_Meet_Data/Gator_Psych4.pdf

Swimming World Magazine 2009 American Swimmers of the Year

http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/22830.asp?q=%3Ci%3ESwimming%20World%3C/i%3E%20Names%202009%20American%20Swimmers%20of%20the%20Year

Swimming World Magazine announced its 2009 American Swimmers of the Year. The top 5 men were:

1. Michael Phelps, USA
2. Cesar Cielo, Brazil
3. Ryan Lochte, USA
4. Aaron Peirsol, USA
t5. Ryan Cochrane, Canada
t5. Eric Shanteau, USA

I did not see what the criteria was for this award, but assume it was based solely on the 2009 World Championships. If it was, then Ryan should have been ranked above Cesar Cielo. Cielo won two gold medals in Rome and set one WR. Ryan won four gold medals and set two WRs. Ryan also won a bronze.

Also, and I forgot to include this in my argument why Ryan deserved U.S. Swimmer of the Year, it cannot be emphasized enough that Ryan won the 400 IM and helped the US finish 1st in the 4x100 free relay. Ryan won golds in a sprint event and a marathon. He deserves higher than 3rd place for what he accomplished in Rome.

If the award wasn't based solely on performance in Rome, then Ryan deserved to be in 1st place for all of the reasons

Swimming World tv put up interviews of most of the swimmers who attended Golden Goggles. Unfortunately, they did not interview Ryan. Here is where the Swimming World tv interviews can be found.

http://www.swimmingworld.tv/2009-golden-goggles-archive/

Duel in the Pool 2009 - European Team Announced and US Short Course Nationals

Duel in the Pool 2009

The European team for Duel in the Pool, which takes place on December 18-19 in Manchester, England has been announced. Laszlo Cseh is not on the list, which is truly a shame. According to swimnews.com, the following swimmers are on the European men's team:

Britain:

• David Davies - Loughborough
• James Goddard - Stockport
• Thomas Haffield - City of Cardiff
• Michael Rock - Stockport
• Liam Tancock - Loughborough
• Christopher Walker-Hebborn - Bath
• Robbie Renwick - City of Glasgow

Italy:

• Federico Colbertaldo - GS Fiamme Azzurre / Montebelluna Nuoto
• Christian Galenda - Fiamme Gialle / Canottieri Aniene
• Edoardo Giorgetti - Canottieri Aniene
• Filippo Magnini - Larus Nuoto
• Luca Marin - Ispra Nuoto
• Joseph Davide Natullo - Can Napoli
• Fabio Scozzoli - Imolanuotoromagna - GS Esercito

Germany

• Steffen Deibler - TG Biberach
• Hendrik Feldwehr - SG Essen
• Marco Koch - DSW 12 Darmstadt
• Benjamin Starke - SG Neukölln

http://www.swimnews.com/News/view/7331

Even though Laszlo Cseh is not participating, the European team has quite a few swimmers that will be great in Ryan's usual events. Some of the European swimmers were familiar to me: James Goddard is one of the world's best IMers as are Luca Marin and Thomas Haffield. Liam Tancock and Christoper Walker-Hebborn are excellent backstrokers, and Steffen Deibler and Filippo Magnini are among the best freestyle sprinters in the world.

Other members of the team were new to me. I researched their names and learned that Michael Rock and Joseph Davide Natullo swim 100 & 200 butterfly and Robbie Renwick swims 200 free. Christian Galenda is a freestyle sprinter. Edoardo Giorgetti, Marco Koch, Hendrik Feldwehr and Fabio Scozzoli swim breaststroke. Benjamin Starke swims freestyle and butterfly.

I haven't heard if Ryan's knee has healed or if he has been swimming. Hopefully he will have enough time to get ready for this meet. It's only 3 weeks away.

US Short Course Nationals

The U.S. SC nationals will take place next weekend in Federal Way, Washington. The psych sheet has already been released and can be found here:

http://www.usaswimming.org/USASWeb/_Rainbow/Documents/23ccd32f-163f-4e73-baf7-f7c880408a5f/Psych%20Sheet_SCYNats.pdf

Ryan is not entered in any events, but neither is anyone from UF. It will be fun to see how well Tyler Clary can do. I've missed watching him swim.

Ryan wins Athlete of the Year at Golden Goggles!

Ryan won two awards at the Golden Goggles...

Best relay (4x100 free relay at World Championships). Sharing with Ryan in this award were Michael Phelps, Nathan Adrian and Matt Grevers.

Best of all, Ryan won Male
Athlete of the Year!! Very well deserved.

The other winners were:

Breakout performer - Tyler Clary

Perseverance award - Dana Vollmer

Coach of the Year - Eddie Reese

Female Performance of the Year - Ariana Kukors 200IM

Male Performance of the Year - Michael Phelps 100 fly

Female Athlete of the Year - Rebecca Soni

Congratulations to all winners. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/olympics_blog/2009/11/swimming-ryan-lochte-michael-phelps-bodysuits.html

Come on, Somebody Please Invite Laszlo Cseh to the Duel!!!

The Duel in the Pool between the U.S. and a "European select team" is scheduled to take place on December 18-19, 2009 in Manchester, England (the site of the 2008 SC World Championships). The meet will be in SC meters. The U.S. team has been announced and it includes Ryan Lochte, Michael Phelps, Aaron Peirsol and Tyler Clary. The European team has not yet been announced, but it is expected that it will consist of swimmers from Germany, Italy and Great Britain.

What I don't understand is why Laszlo (Laci) Cseh was not invited. He apparently wants to swim in the Duel. http://www.swimnews.com/News/view/7311

The European team has not yet been announced and Laci is Hungarian, which is part of the European Union. He definitely should be invited!

Laci is one of the best swimmers in the world, top 5 for sure. He won 3 individual silver medals in the Beijing Olympics (200/400 IM and 200 fly). He won a silver (200IM) & bronze (400 IM) in Rome this past summer despite being deathly ill and spending time in the hospital during the week of the meet.

Even though Laci has huge talent and is one of the best swimmers in the world, he only has the opportunity to race Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte once a year at most, and sometimes not for 2 years. This is not right. These swimmers are in the prime of their careers and they should be afforded as many opportunities as possible to race, not only for them but for fans who love to watch them.

A 200 IM race with Phelps, Lochte, Cseh and Clary would be monumental. Same with a 200 fly race with Phelps, Cseh and Clary and a 400 IM race with Lochte Cseh and Clary. Cseh wants to be there, the publicity for swimming would be great, and I'm sure Phelps and Lochte would relish the opportunity to race him. Why not invite him?

The article in http://www.swimnews.com/ linked above stated that Cseh was not invited because "Talks between LEN, the European body, and USA Swimming did not result in any agreements, with European calendar clashes and the varying programmes of a large number of nations among the key obstacles to progress."

The swimming world gets way too bogged down with nationalism and semantics and rules. World peace is not at stake. Yes the Duel is about national teams competing against each other, but in order to generate interest and fan support, the best swimmers should be invited. It sounds like Laci would have made the Duel a priority even if there was another meet he could have participated in during those two days.

I keep hearing that the swimming world wants swimming to be relevant and interesting beyond the Olympics. The swimming world needs to be more open minded so wonderful opportunities like this are not lost.

Swimming Update - Short Course Season

The 2009/10 Short Course swimming season is in full swing. Unfortunately, Ryan has not been able to compete having just had knee surgery.

I don't know anything about the surgery or how Ryan injured his knee... According to Ryan's twitter, he injured his knee, had surgery and is out of the water for a few weeks.

http://twitter.com/ryanlochte/status/4348867232

http://twitter.com/ryanlochte/status/5186059487

The good news is Ryan will be participating in the 2009 Duel in Manchester, England on December 18-19. This is a short-course meters event, with the U.S. team facing off against a team from Great Britain, Germany and Italy. The Duel will be recorded and broadcast on NBC on December 27. http://www.duelinthepool.com/ Ryan spoke to the press about this meet after he had his knee surgery, so he must feel confident about his ability to recover by then. I'll do a separate post about the Duel closer to the time. The European team has not yet been announced, but I am very disappointed that Laszlo Cseh is not part of it. The U.S. team is listed here: http://www.universalsports.com/news/article/newsid=335264.html

I'm happy that NBC is televising the Duel, and do not want to complain about a major U.S. network airing a swim meet, but I really prefer the events to be live. Swimming is so much more exciting when it is live (i.e. all of the Olympics and last summer's 4x100 free relay).

I'm not sure if Ryan will be swimming in the 2009 U.S. Short Course Nationals in Federal Way, Washington, which will take place on December 3-5. Hopefully he will be recovered from his surgery by then. Here's some information on the meet.
http://www.usaswimming.org/USASWeb/_Rainbow/Documents/11ed4e45-a0cc-483f-90a2-929f13173cfa/2009%20SC%20Nats%20Meet%20Book.pdf

The FINA World Cup meets are underway (actually they are almost over) and all of Ryan's SCM world records were broken. Ryan previously held SCM WRs in the 100 and 200 IM.

According to http://www.swimnews.com/, Ryan's WR for the 100 IM, 51.15 set at the 2008 SC World Championships, was broken by Sergey Fesikov of Russia in the prelims of the Berlin World Cup last weekend. Fesikov's time was 50.95. In the finals, Fesikov won with a time of 50.96. Ryan's previous WR was also broken in the finals by Gerhard Zandberg of South Africa who came in second with a time of 51.05.

Ryan's WR for the 200 IM, 1:51.56 set at the 2008 SC World Championships, was broken at the Berlin World Cup by Dairan Townsend of South Africa by only .01! I'm particularly bummed about this WR being broken. I liked that Ryan held the WRs in the 200 IM in both SCM and LCM.

I don't know what kind of suits Fesikov, Zandberg and Townsend were wearing in these swims, but I doubt they were Speedo LZRs or textile suits. It's hard to watch a WR go down when a) you aren't there to compete and b) the swimmers who go faster are not wearing the same suit you wore to set the WR. Given Ryan's injury and the fact that he rarely swims SCM, we'll probably have to wait for the 2010 SC World Championships in Dubai to see if Ryan can get these records back.

***A big thanks to callie01 from Reezy Daily who took these pictures of Ryan at the Minnesota Grand Prix in Minneapolis this past weekend. Ryan did not swim in the meet but went to do some PR and to help coach his teammates. callie01 was very kind to let me post the pictures here.***

GOLDEN GOGGLES - Why Ryan is Male Athlete of the Year in 2008/09

The Golden Goggle Awards for the 2008-09 season will be held next Sunday night, November 22. Ryan is nominated in several categories and anyone can vote for the winners:

VOTE HERE: http://swimfoundation.org/Page.aspx?pid=302

Ryan is nominated in the following categories (The relays in which Ryan participated are marked with an *)

Relay Performance of the Year:
2009 World Championships - Men's 4x100m Free Relay *
2009 World Championships - Men's 4x200m Free Relay *
2009 World Championships - Men's 4x100m Medley Relay

Male Race of the Year:
Ryan Lochte: 200m IM at World Championships
Aaron Peirsol: 200m Backstroke at World Championships
Michael Phelps: 100m Butterfly at World Championships
Michael Phelps: 200m Butterfly at World Championships

Male Athlete of the Year:
Ryan Lochte
Aaron Peirsol
Michael Phelps

I believe Ryan should win the Male Athlete of the Year for 2008/09. Here is why:

1. 2008 U.S. Short Course Nationals - After only about a week's training following his post-Olympics hiatus, Ryan entered in 6 races, making the "A" final in all 6 and winning 4 of them. He won the men's high point award for the meet. Ryan's accomplishments by race were:

• 50 yard free - 7th place
• 100 yard free - 4th place
• 100 yard back - 1st place (defeated Matt Grevers & Ben Hesen)
• 200 yard free - 1st place (missed the American record by .32)
• 200 yard back - 1st place (defeated Tyler Clary)
• 200 yard IM - 1st place (defeated Eric Shanteau)

Neither Michael Phelps nor Aaron Peirsol, the other nominees for Athlete of the Year, swam at the Short Course Nationals.

2. 2008/09 Grand Prix Results - Ryan swam in 5 out of the 6 Grand Prix events, missing only the Texas Grand Prix in Austin. He finished 2nd overall and 1st among men for total points from all of the Grand Prix events combined. No other male swimmer did as well as Ryan in the Grand Prix events.

In the Grand Prix events he entered, he had the following results:

• Minnesota Grand Prix - (2 first place finishes in 200 IM and 100 back, 1 second place finish in 100 breast and a fifth place finish in 50 free)
• So Cal Grand Prix - (4 first place finishes in 200 free, 100 back, 200 back & 100 breast, 1 second place finish in 100 fly, 1 third place finish in 50 free and a 9th place finish in 100 free)
• Missouri Grand Prix - (4 first place finishes in 100 back, 200 back, 200 IM & 400 IM, 1 second place finish in 100 fly and 2 ninth place finishes - 1st in B final - in 100 free and 200 free)
• Charlotte Ultra Swim - (1 second place finish in 200 IM, 4th in 100 back, 9th in 100 free and 11th in 400 free)
• Santa Clara International Grand Prix - (3 first place finishes in 400 IM, 100 back & 200 back, 1 second place finish in 100 fly & 4th place in the 100 free)

Michael Phelps swam in 2 Grand Prix events, Charlotte and Santa Clara. Aaron Peirsol swam in the Charlotte event and the prelims only for the Texas event.

3. Supporting Local Swimmers & Meets - Ryan swam in two meets in Florida in 2009: the Florida Spring Championships and the Speedo South Sectionals. In these meets, not only did Ryan have good results, he helped UF swimmers achieve NCAA "A" qualifying times and motivated the age group swimmers. Ryan's results were:

• Florida Spring Championships - 6 first place finishes in 400 IM, 200 free, 50 free, 100 back, 100 free and 200 back.
• Speedo South Sectionals - 4 first place finishes in 200 free, 100 back, 200 back & 200 IM, 1 second place finish in 100 breast.

4. 2009 U.S. Nationals (Long Course) - Ryan won 2 events - 200 IM & 400 IM, placed second in the 200 back and third in the 200 free. He had the second fastest prelim time in the 100 free. He qualified for the 4x100 free and 4x200 free relays. Ryan scored more points than any other male swimmer in the meet.

Michael Phelps won 3 events setting 1 WR. Aaron Peirsol won 2 events setting 2 WRs and came in 3rd in another. Phelps qualified for all 3 relays. Peirsol qualified for 1 relay.

5. 2009 Worlds (Long Course) - Ryan won 2 events - 200 IM & 400 IM, setting a new world record in the 200 IM. Ryan won gold medals as part of the 4x100 and 4x200 free relays, swimming the 2nd fastest times in both relays. The 4x200 free relay team, which Ryan anchored, set a new world record. Ryan placed third in the 200 back. Final medal totals: 4 golds and 1 bronze in 5 events. Ryan set 1 individual and 1 relay WR.

Michael Phelps won 5 golds and 1 silver and set 2 individual and 1 relay WR. Aaron Peirsol won 2 golds and did not qualify for the finals in his other event. He set 1 individual WR.

Ryan's accomplishments in 2008/09 were unequaled by any other swimmer when viewed collectively. He swam in a large number of events, entering a variety of races involving all four strokes. He swam both sprints & distance races. With the exception of the Charlotte Ultra Swim, Ryan performed well in all meets he entered. Ryan scored the most points among male swimmers at the U.S. long-course and short-course nationals. He set 2 WRs at the World Championships and won 4 gold medals. Ryan took a significant amount of time off after Beijing, just like many other 2008 Olympians, but he still managed to enter nearly every major swimming event in the U.S. and do well. For all of this he deserves to win Male Athlete of the Year for 2008/09.

Swimnetwork.com - 21 Questions with Ryan Lochte by Bob Schaller

http://www.swimnetwork.com/blogs/blog/20091103/20_question_tuesday_with_ryan_lochte-6435.html

By Bob Schaller, Ph.D. // Swimnetwork Senior Writer

Ryan Lochte always has time to make someone smile, or share a light moment. We caught him on his couch on Sunday watching football, where the topics ranged from his Florida Gators to how he deals with pressure at the biggest meets.

1) What are you doing this Sunday afternoon?
Ryan: I am doing well. I’m just sitting on my couch watching my TV.

2) How did you follow up 2008 with such a strong 2009?
Ryan: There are some things I wanted to do better, and some things that I did accomplish this year. So things went pretty well.

3) I didn’t catch the whole “Jeah” thing from its inception – is that like “Yeah” but only your version?
Ryan: Well, the real word is “chea,” it’s music... from a rapper. Instead of “chea,” I said “jeah” with a “J.” You know, kind of made it my own.

4) Did you think that would become such a famous line of yours – it was all over the Internet?
Ryan: No, I didn’t think it would become famous – I still don’t (laughs) think it is!

5) I always enjoyed talking to your father – is that where this laid back attitude and your grounded perspective come from?
Ryan: It does come a lot from your parents. You don’t want to let the attention get to your head. That’s how it’s always been for me.

6) How about another Lochte getting after it?
Ryan: Oh, my brother? I think it’s great. I just keep trying to tell him not to live in my shadow, and for him to be his own person. But he’s working hard and going to school, to all his classes, and doing well. I give it another year, and then he’ll be lighting stuff up.

7) So you are back in Florida training?
Ryan: Yep. Once you are a Gator you are always a Gator.

8) What are the odds the Gators win the BCS this year?
Ryan: Oh my gosh, there’s no question about that. I think we’ll definitely win again.

9) How did you do in Beijing in relation to how you hoped to do?
Ryan: I mean, for the most part, I definitely wanted to win all my races there. My longest-term goal was getting a gold medal – an individual gold medal.

10) Where does Reezy come from?
Ryan: I don’t know. ‘Cause I’m a big fan of Little Wayne, I think. He gets called “Wheezy,” so I guess a bunch of fans knew that I always listened to his music.

11) How do you deal with all that attention?
Ryan: I mean, like I said, it goes in one ear and out the other. I don’t pay much attention to it. But it is kind of cool to know there are fans out there. I appreciate them, for sure.

12) Will you stay in Florida, or do you plan to move away at some point?
Ryan: Well, I don’t know. It depends. I’ll definitely stay here until 2012 and train. Then, I’ll decide after that what to do.

13) How about the other coast – could you see yourself on Dancing With The Stars?
Ryan: Yeah, I’d do that – I’d show some people up!

14) Do you watch media coverage of yourself much?
Ryan: No. I mean, if I’m not swimming, if I’m on a break, sometimes I’ll watch a video of one of my races. It makes me want me get back into swimming and into the water and it keeps me motivated.

15) You’re laid back outside the pool, but that changes once you hit the water, doesn’t it?
Ryan: Oh yeah, I don’t know what it is, but as soon as I step on the blocks, I’m not a laid back person any more. I don’t know how it happens, but it does.

16) What was the most special part about Beijing?
Ryan: It was special just because I had my whole family there.

17) They really keep you grounded in a good way, don’t they?
Ryan: Yeah, they just keep telling us, “No matter what happens, you are still going to be yourself. Don’t let anything else change that.” That’s always stuck with me.

18) Your Dad’s a good interview – you guys ever give each other media advice?
Ryan: Uh, no. I mean, we never really talked about how to deal with the media. It’s kind of, just like swimming, the more you practice, the better you get at it. So, yeah, it’s kind of like that with the media; the more you do, the more you get comfortable talking into a camera.

19) Did you feel pressure at Olympic Trials or World Team Trials?
Ryan: I try not to put any pressure on myself, because if I do I’ll be a nervous wreck. I always think of myself as like the underdog, no matter what. I put that on me so I have no expectations for myself – I just go out there and swim.

20) In Omaha, your face lit up as much as the young fans you were signing autographs for – does that mean a lot to you and where does that pure joy come from?
Ryan: I think it goes back to me just being humble. Anytime I sign an autograph or get a picture with someone, it feels it’s like the first time I’m doing that. It never gets old. I’ll sign autographs galore. I’ll never not sign them – I’ll go until someone yells at me that it’s time to stop.

And this extra question:

21) What’s your plan as far as suits go – how do you feel about all the changes in the rules affecting the technology?
Ryan: Whatever suit they give us. I’m going to stick with Speedo. I’m just going to stick with Speedo because I’m most comfortable with them.