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Some people just still don't buy that Michael Phelps won the 100-meter fly by a razor-thin one-hundredth of a second. Even Slate's own Will Saletan is skeptical, wondering if the sensitivity of the touch pads came into play. I've got to respectfully disagree.
I was an extremely amateur swimmer—the highest championships I made it to were zones, not nationals—but I've been to my fair share of meets and slammed into many a touch pad. Saletan writes, "It's not who touches first. It's who triggers the sensor first." The problem is he's making a distinction that does not exist in the sport. In swimming parlance, whoever triggers the sensors IS who touched first—the person who touches hard enough to stop the clock first via the touch pad. (No one goes around saying they got "sensor-triggered" out. They say they got "touched out.") There's no photo finish in swimming (and I realize they can reconstruct high-level races with photos in extreme cases like this, but the photos are backup; the touch pad determines the winner), nor does anyone care if you lightly brush the pad first. If you don't hit it hard enough to stop the clock first, you lose.
I can assure you that gliding to a finish, as every swimmer at that level knows, can be the kiss of death. I knew it at age 12, so I'm pretty confident that someone at Cavic's level of expertise knows it. Maybe he thought he didn't have enough room for a half-stroke (and Phelps, who took a chance in taking an extra half-stroke, took the right one); maybe he thought that half-stroke would cost him time or that he was far enough ahead to be first with one last full stroke. Saletan asks if Cavic "had realized how much pressure was required [to stop the touchpad], would he have shortened his stroke as Phelps did, trying to trigger the sensor first, instead of trying to touch the wall first?" In addition to there being no distinction between "trigger" and "touch," I can guarantee that Cavic most definitely was "trying to trigger the sensor first," even if he didn't know how many kilograms per square centimeter were required to do so. There's a reason the saying about finishing a race in swimming is to go "Not to the wall but through the wall." Cavic just didn't make the same smart decision to hit the wall at full velocity that Phelps did, and it cost him.
This type of loss in not uncommon in swimming—Darra Torres lost the gold this Olympics by one one-hundredth of a second herself in the 50 freestyle—and the touch pads measure to thousandths of a second for a reason (to ensure accuracy for the hundredths of a second that the times will be recorded in). Sometimes you just get touched—or sensor-triggered or however you want to say it—out, end of story.
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Except for a bit of mostly innocuous fun-poking, the Beijing Olympics have pretty much steered clear of any sexist slip-ups. Until yesterday, when reports surfaced of the International Table Tennis Federation’s latest strategy for reversing low attendance to its matches. Now that gymnastics and beach volleyball are over, the ITTF is looking to draw attention to the sexier side of table tennis, urging lady players to adjust their competition outfits to flaunt more “curves.”
Real considerate, ITTF. Being Olympians and all, I’m sure the lady table tennis players don’t have any more important things to worry about or stress over than their appearances! This scenario reminds me of a scene from A League of Their Own, in which Geena Davis’ character, Dottie Hinson, sees the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League uniform for the first time. Recognizing its counterintuitive design, Dottie points out that (beyond being exploitive of her body) the garment stands to significantly hinder her athletic performance exclaiming, “I have to squat in that?”
What would Dottie Hinson say to the ITTF if she knew that so little has changed for female athletes since the AAGPBL forced her to bunt and slide in a poorly disguised cocktail dress?
One of the most inspiring aspects of seeing women compete in the Olympics is watching the stereotypically separate spheres of femininity and athleticism collide. From Dara Torres to Natalie du Toit, the lady Olympians’ blend of determination, strength, and elegance consistently rises above public preconceptions, continually redefining the archetype of an athletic woman. Requiring female athletes to look hot for their onlookers would detract from the athletic and social advancements these women are making.
Don’t get me wrong. I see nothing wrong with Olympians, male or female, choosing to flaunt their flawless bodies for my viewing pleasure. Props to Japan’s Naomi Yotsumoto for vamping it up of her own volition. Michael Phelps also seems to love the glint of his hairless body in the spotlight, and you won’t hear me complaining. But the ITTF’s request for skimpier female uniforms is pretty sexist, particularly when the request admittedly serves no functional purpose. These athletes are in Beijing to compete in the name of national pride and international community, for a shot at distinction in their impossibly competitive field. We shouldn’t be concerned about what they wear. (And frankly, if they want to make the case for shock value, perhaps the ITTF would prefer to revert back to the uniform worn by the original Olympians.)
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I admit, I was as enthralled as the next person with Michael Phelps' amazing run for eight golds at the Beijing Olympics, perhaps more so. I watched the races live, yelling at the TV; I rewatched them on the Internet (have you seen the 4 x 100 relay underwater view? Go watch!); and I started letting my 4-year-old stay up until 10:30 p.m. so he could glimpse history for himself. (And now you should see him try to swim butterfly.)
But if there was anything that disappointed me about the Olympics swimming coverage, it's that Natalie Coughlin's own remarkable feat—winning six medals in six events for the U.S. women—went comparably unnoticed by NBC's commentators. Granted, her haul of one gold, two silvers, and three bronzes wasn't as impressive as Phelps', but she swam an ambitious program and has never finished out of the medals in 11 Olympic events (she also swam in 2004).
Swimming has always been my favorite Olympic sport. I was a less-than-mediocre age-group swimmer growing up, and I still fondly remember coming home from swim practice each day, making a sandwich, and plopping down in front of the TV to watch the 1984 Olympics. What made the swimming in those Games so fun to watch was that the women's team had just as much success and enjoyed just as much attention as the men. Tracy Caulkins, Carrie Steinseifer, and Mary T. Meagher (and Dara Torres, of course) were just as famous for those two weeks as Rowdy Gaines, Rick Carey, and Steve Lundquist. And from then up through the 2000 Games, the U.S. swimming medal count has been roughly divided between the men's and women's teams. In the last two Olympics, though, our men's teams have been considerably more successful than the women, even if you adjust for Phelps' out-of-this world performances. I can't know the cause, and it might be an anomaly. But here's my suggestion: Speedo, it's great that you rewarded Michael Phelps with a $1 million bonus for his eight golds. But how about ponying up an equal amount to USA Swimming to further develop our talented young female swimmers?
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