Next year’s Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games will force swimming’s elite to adopt some nocturnal habits as preparations are stepped up in the coming months in the race for golds.
The world championships finished on Sunday as the US again ended top of the swimming table in Kazan with 23 medals, followed by Australia (16), China (13) and Britain (nine).
However, for coaches and swimmers alike, Kazan is already forgotten — it is all about Rio from now on — and lots of late nights.
Traditionally, the swimming section of the Olympics involves morning heats and early evening finals. However, to capitalize on the US television market, the Rio finals are scheduled to start at 10pm local time, with the heats beginning at 1pm.
It means many medals will be decided around midnight.
Any newly crowned champion can expect to see their bed in the early hours of the next day after the medal ceremony, media interviews, doping control and bus to the athletes village.
For the swimmers, the unusual schedule is just part of their job description.
This is not the first time the Olympic schedule has been changed — the finals of the 2008 Bejing games were held in the morning with evening heats.
“You walk out for a final and the timing is the last thing on your mind,” said Australia’s Mitchell Larkin, who won 100m and 200m backstroke gold in Kazan. “It will be late in Rio, but it’s part and parcel of being an athlete. All we can do is prepare.”
Sweden and Germany held training camps in January in Rio for their elite swimmers to get used to the Brazilian metropolis.
Each country has a plan for Rio, but Swimming Australia is holding a five-day training camp at Canberra’s Australian Institute of Sport next month to give their swimmers a taste of what to expect.
It includes two days of competition with early afternoon heats and late night finals, plus everything from doping controls to mock media interviews.
“Everything from now on will be about getting the athletes as ready as possible for Rio, both inside and outside the pool,” Australia media manager Ian Hanson said. “The Olympics has thrown a curve ball, but everyone is in the same boat.”
A year is a long time in sport and the list of Rio medal winners is likely to look very different to those in Kazan.
Big names, like US superstar Michael Phelps, France’s Yannick Agnel and Australia’s James Magnussen, will return to fight for Rio medals.
Phelps, 30, was suspended for Kazan after last year’s drink-driving conviction, but he would have won two world golds in Kazan, based on his times at the US Championships on Saturday.
Phelps’ world-best times for the 100m and 200m butterfly in San Antonio eclipsed those in the corresponding Kazan finals.
Katie Ledecky, the standout performer, left Russia with five gold medals, having lowered two of her three world records.
The 18-year-old is the first swimmer in history to win the 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle golds at a worlds and earned a relay gold.
She describes Kazan as a “great stepping-stone toward the US trials” as she keeps “slowly chipping away” at her goals.
Forty-four years after Shane Gould of Australia won Munich Olympic medals in the women’s 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle, Ledecky looks set to rival those historic results in Rio.
Adam Peaty dazzled on his worlds’ debut by completing the 50m and 100m breaststroke double, breaking the sprint record twice in the process, and picked up a third gold and world record for Britain in the mixed relay
“I never thought I’d walk away from my first championships with three gold medals, but I’ll take nothing for granted next year,” the 20-year-old said. “I want to be ruthless with my start and try to get them perfect every time. I want to nail them to get faster times.”
However, British coach Bill Furniss’ tough appraisal of Kazan could be aimed at any world medalist dreaming of gold in Rio.
“It’s a platform, and no more than that, before Rio,” he said. “Make no mistake, this is not the Olympics and that is what I will be telling our swimmers in the wrap-up meeting. Expect the Olympics to be between 10 and 15 percent harder, which means we have to be 15 percent better at handling the pressure.”
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was