After the 200m back in Beijing, Ryan told the Today Show that the tie on his suit came loose when he jumped in the water before the race.In a recent interview with Universal Sports, Ryan admitted he forgot to tie it. That's kind of a big oops. It's amazing that he won under the circumstances. Ryan said he could have gone 1 second faster if the suit had been tied.
http://www.universalsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=23000&ATCLID=3728980
Ryan also talked in the interview about how prior to the start of the Olympics, he got sick from drinking tap water in Beijing. It's in the past now, but I can't help but feel bad that this easily preventable illness hurt Ryan's performance in the 400m IM and kept him out of the 4 x 100m free relay prelims. I suspect he'll never make a mistake like that again when competing overseas.
In the interview Ryan says he is in hard training now, swimming 80,000 meters per week (12,000 - 16,000 meters a day for doubles and 6,000 - 7,000 meters a day for singles). He is also doing weight lifting and core exercises multiple times a week.
Ryan is planning to swim in both the Charlotte Ultraswim (May 14-17) and Santa Clara Grand Prix (June 11-14). Ryan said in the interview that Michael Phelps is going to start swimming the backstroke events. Phelps told ESPN last week that he plans to swim four events at the Ultraswim, including the 100/200 free and the 100 fly. Phelps did not reveal his final event, and there is speculation that it will either be the 100 back or 50 free. I do not think he will compete in the 200 back because it is just before the 100 free on the last day of the meet. Still, you never know.
http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/swimming/news/story?id=4089582
It's hard to wait for the U.S. nationals when most countries have already had their Rome qualifying event. It will be interesting to see what happens at the GP events in May and June.
7 comments:
Thank you so much for this update. I am crossing my fingers and hoping that he does follow through and competes at the Santa Clara meet. It will be my one and only chance to actually see Ryan do his thing in the water. Any info on the SC meet would be very much appreciated. I have no clue where to even get info and tickets for that.
Information for the Santa Clara meet can be found at this link:
http://competitive.santaclaraswimclub.org/international/main.htm
It says "Advance ticket sales and complete meet sheet information will soon be available on-line at this site. Please check back for further information in the coming weeks."
I hope you can go!! Let me know if it works out.
I just found that site not too long ago but thank you for posting it. Looks like a lot of swimmers will be attending this one. I am really looking forward to this meet. :o)
Wow... I just found your blog and I love it (since 90% of DR seems lately be about anything but Ryan or swimming)
I heard about this interview yesterday listening to "Oh Yes They Did" and I am really kicking myself since it took place about 4 blocks from where I live... ARRGGGHHH!!!
Like you, I totally got hooked on swimming last summer during the Olympics and really want to learn more about it... And of course the view isn't bad either... HAHA
Hope you keep this going so we can get some quality info... Thanks!
Thanks so much for reading and commenting LzzyBee1!
It's hard to think of things to write about now given that there isn't much info about Ryan's training and he hasn't competed in a while. Thankfully the Charlotte Ultraswim is coming up soon.
Exactly why you are so right about the need for some sort of Pro Swimming Association... They all seem to love competing so much and that would give them more opportunities to see where they stand and be able to work on improving things... Though I guess the cost of those events are probably the main factor.
A Professional Swimming Association would be very cool. I don't know how it could work financially, but I hope USA Swimming is at least considering it. There has to be a way for it to work.
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