With the Olympics officially starting tomorrow on the many Family of NBC Channels, I've been preparing with the pre-events that NBCsn has been broadcast of softball and soccer. But once the Games begin, I'll watch most anything with two exceptions -- no synchronized swimming or rhythmic gymnastics. I don't love all events equally. Track-and-field lead the pack, though I actually love many of the smaller, obscure events that you don't tend to get a chance to see any other time. I'm not a huge swimming fan, though will watch it to a degree. But I will definitely watch whenever Katie Ledecky is swimming. I'm in awe of her skill. She's perhaps the Simon Biles of swimming, unless Simon Biles is the Katie Ledecky of gymnastics. It's not that the 24-year-old Ledecky is so great -- and wins in the short 200 and 400-meter races, as well as all the long-distance 800 and 1,500-meters, and has wond five Olympic Gold medals in five races -- but that she wins by margins so large in those long races that you can't even see who's in second place when she finishes. Let me put it another way – If an athlete holds the world record in an event, that’s seriously impressive. If that athlete owns, let’s say, three of the top 10 all-time best results in that event, that’s remarkable. If the person has half of those top 10 times ever, that’s utterly stunning. In the 800-meter freestyle, Katie Ledecky doesn’t just have the top five best times ever – she has the top 24 best times in the history of the sport!!! Yes, Katie Ledecky has the first best time ever in the 800-meter freestyle. And the send best. And the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth best times. No one else is in the top 10. And she also has the 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th through 20th best times, as well. And the next three best times. And the 24th best, too. There’s no one else in the top 24. (There's a great ad running now with Ledecky where the announcer says something like, "How to you turn a mild-mannered person into a mean swimming machine? Just add water." By the way, to be clear, it's not like Katie Ledecky dominates like this at all distances. There is one swimmer this year who is finally considered serious competition for Ledecky in the two short races. In fact, 20-year-old Australian Ariarne Titmus might even be the favorite in the 400-meter. She beat Ledecky at the 2019 world championships, though when the American was under-the-weather, but Titmus also had a better time by four seconds in their separate Olympic trials in June. Titmus also has the best time this year in the 200-meter race, though Ledecky still holds the world record. But this is really about the long distance races, because it's there that anyone isn’t even close. And by “not even close,” that’s not hyperbole. I mean quite literally, no one is even in sight. Here’s what I mean. This is Katie Ledecky winning the 800-meter freestyle race at the 2016 Olympics, and setting another world record while at it. As you watch, keep in mind, this is the Olympics. The other swimmers are the world’s best. And she wins by -- are you ready? -- 22 seconds! No one else is literally in sight at the finish. It looks like she's swimmig alone in the Olympic-sized pool. Rest easy, this isn’t the full race, but cut down to about four minutes. I’m not going to tell you which lane Katie Ledecky is in, because if you can’t tell, your eyes are closed. And this is the 1,500-meter freestyle finals at the 2019 U.S. Finals, when Katie Ledecky broke the 31-year record by five seconds. No need to watch the whole thing (and it's only the last 350 meters anyway). But just watch the first minute. It's hilarious. Katie Ledecky is so far ahead that she's going in one direction, and everyone else is going the opposite way. And in you don't want to watch the first first, then just jump to the 45-second mark and watch for 15 seconds. It it truly amazing. (If you can stick around just a touch longer, at the 1:12 mark they superimpose an earlier interview with one of her competitors, Erica Sullivan, who's laughing while telling the story of racing against Ledecky and thinking, "I wonder where Katie is?" and looking up to see the "traveling camera" that's following Ledecky is going in the opposite direction that she's swimming. And then thinking, "Oh, yeah, right...")
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
Archives
May 2024
Categories
All
|
© Copyright Robert J. Elisberg 2024
|