When you see it live, you forget about the suit wars. You forget about the fact that everyone can see how you’re screaming and jumping around uncontrollably. All you know is that you’ve been waiting for this for months, and you just saw a world record fall. At least that’s what it was like for me.
This will come as absolutely no surprise to anyone who has talked to me for more then five minutes this past year, but I love watching swimming. The adrenaline just rushes through my veins and all I care about is the race. I’d describe as “being in the zone” for spectators. Up close, you notice a lot more things than you do on TV. At least I did. Having been a drylander for the past 6 1/2 years (I stopped swimming regularly when I was 12), I had forgotten a lot. Like how beautiful the strokes are. And how fast they really go. Basically, it’s like any other sport. It’s always better live.
Anyway, here are my picks for the top 5 races of the week with video and a few pictures. Asking me to put them in order is like asking me to choose between my children, so I put them chronologically:
Men’s 400 Individual Medley (Day 1, July 7)
A great way to start out the meet. Like I said before, this one was really tight. And in case you’re keeping score:
Legs-1, Full body Jaked-0
Men’s 100 Backstroke (Day 2, July 8)
There was some drama going into this race because a Spanish swimmer broke Peirsol’s record exactly one week before. I’ll never forget seeing my first world record fall live.
Men’s 100 Butterfly (Day 3, July 9)
I totally called this one (Well, it wasn’t hard to predict Phelps would get the WR because of his time in Quebec, but I still totally called it). He now holds 8 (half of the men’s events swam in Indy), though I predict one of these will fall in Rome (see above). I’m glad that there is no record of my reaction to this race because I am sure it was absolutely ridiculous-looking (and sounding!).
Men’s 200 IM (Day 4, July 10)
Lochte was ahead right from the start, winning with a time of 1.54.56, only .33 seconds behind Phelps’ world record and the 2nd fastest time in history. It was a great moment when the whole natatorium cheered Ryan on during the breaststroke leg. Also, this was the night of the grill and the “Jeah.”
It was absolutely necessary to post a picture of these shoes.
Men’s 200 Back (Day 5, July 11)
What a showdown! I had a feeling the WR was going to be broken, but I honestly had no idea who was going to get it. Lochte had the world record going into it, but Peirsol went out ridiculously fast in prelims. Really excited to see how this turns out in Rome!
All videos taken from swimnetwork.com. The photos come from my camera. If you take them, let me know and credit if you post elsewhere.
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