By Mike Hedge
July 11th 2008 @ 2:47am
The big clashes that will light up Beijing
There are few aspects of an Olympic Games more memorable than the personal battles, those Thorpe and Phelps or Ovett and Coe tussles that become etched in the memory.
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This year there promises to be an epic - even if it lasts less than 10 seconds.
The big one in Beijing is shaping as a head-to-head-to-head confrontation in what is generally the most watched sporting event on the planet.
The men’s 100m will feature the rather well-named Jamaican Usain Bolt, his compatriot Asafa Powell and the American Tyson Gay.
Bolt, Powell and Gay have between them run the 10 fastest times ever recorded over 100m.
All things being equal, there is about 5/100ths of a second between three of them.
On times recently run, Bolt, the world record holder at 9.72 seconds, would win the race by the thickness of his vest from Powell with the 9.77 Gay ran at the recent US Olympic trials placing him the same distance away in third place.
Gay has since suffered a slight leg injury, but his appearance at the Games is, at this stage, in no doubt.
If the 100m evolves as it should, a better race may never be run.
Except in the eyes of the Chinese.
For the people of the host nation, the track and field event of the Games will be the men’s 110m hurdles.
There too, another classic clash is looming.
The most popular sportsman - maybe the most popular person - in China is Liu Xiang.
Liu won the high hurdles gold medal in Athens, a success symbolic not only in its own right, but as a bold victory for China in an event traditionally owned by the west.
But Liu won’t have it all his own way.
Cuba’s Dayron Robles is the new world record holder in the hurdles and the Americans David Oliver and Terrence Trammell have both run faster times this season than Liu.
At a Games where one of the major rivalries is between the makers of swimsuits, the traditional protagonists are ready to launch themselves into the usual series of personal contests.
Australia v USA in the pool will be the sort of tussle it has been at every Games since 1956.
And it will take place between swimmers equipped with the best that NASA and Speedo can provide.
Speedo’s LZR suit has been the talking point in world swimming since the Australian team squeezed into them at the national championships and went on a world-record breaking spree.
Every country that didn’t, or couldn’t, wear the suits bleated that they were something akin to a performance-enhancing drug.
By the time they get to Beijing they will have the Speedo, or an equivalent, or they may as well stay home.
In the actual competition, Australia without Ian Thorpe is no doubt at a disadvantage against the US, particularly with Michael Phelps, still competing.
The most convincing argument against Phelps winning eight gold medals is that such things simply don’t happen.
Which doesn’t mean it won’t.
On form, the American is clearly superior in the 200m freestyle, and the two individual medleys.
He is the early favourite for the 100m and 200m butterfly and, therefore, makes the US teams the top pick in all three men’s relays.
Things rarely work out so simply at an Olympic Games - and no-one really knows what the Chinese will do.
As far as rivalries go, the best of them may be between Phelps and the clock.
The American performed as expected at the recent US trials, but with a couple of exceptions, the Americans failed to produce serious rivals to Australia’s major gold medal contenders.
Nine world records were set at the trial, but they all came in events they won at last year’s Melbourne world championships.
Katie Hoff was one of the few who seem likely to knock over an Australian favourite after she set a new world mark in the 400m medley.
Her effort set up a tantalising confrontation with Australia’s Stephanie Rice.
The Aussies held nine No.1 rankings in individual events before the US trials and after them they have eight.
In the men’s events, Garrett Weber-Gale emerged as a threat to Eamon Sullivan in the 50m and 100m freestyle, but the West Australian remains the superior swimmer.
Grant Hackett lost one American rival in his signature 1500m event in Eric Vendt but found another in 400m swimmer Peter Vanderkaay.
Vanderkaay’s time of 14:45.50 was the best in the world this year.
Poland’s Mateusz Sawrymowicz is another who could stretch the Australian.
The US failed to make any great inroads in the women’s sprints with Libby Trickett remaining the one to beat in the 50m and 100m freestyle.
It would be an injustice to a number of other swimmers to regard the Olympic swim meet as a private contest between Australia and the US.
One of the more outstanding performances in Athens came from Japan’s Kosuke Kitajima, winner of the 100m and 200m breaststroke gold medals.
Kitajima clipped a second off the world 200m breaststroke at the Japan Open meet in June to regain the ascendancy.
The record-breaking swim returned to Kitajima the edge he had lost to America’s Brendan Hansen who had achieved the better results since Athens.
Kitajima may well prove to be a rallying point for the Japanese who could emerge from these Games with as much to be happy about as the hosts.
While China is naturally expected to be the leading Asian nation, Japan went from five gold medals in Sydney to 16 in Athens.
It would hardly be a surprise if they improved on that total in Beijing.
For all the specific rivalries between individuals, teams and nations, the Beijing Games will include a battle of ideologies as significant as any that has gone before.
The procession around the world of the Olympic flame has demonstrated its depth and intensity.
The Chinese say the world’s media will have virtually unfettered access during the Games to the local population and to the country in general.
There are already signs that such freedoms may be a matter of interpretation.
And then there’s the pollution.
No matter what anyone says, there will be events in which the most difficult opponent may be the air itself.
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We were talking about the important things in life, mainly sport.
sheek said | July 11th 2008 @ 9:27pm | Report comment
At the risk of splitting hairs…..
“Australia v USA in the pool will be the sort of tussle it has been at every games since 1956″.
Well…..no actually. We spanked the USA in 1956, & I think it was close in 1960, but the yanks were way ahead (apart from the occasional individual) in 64, 68, 72, 76, 84, 88, 92 & 96. They still finished ahead of us in 2000, while I think 04 was close.
But the reality is that the yanks have greater depth across the board than the Aussies. Medals per population, we win, but in reality, the yanks usually finish first in the swimming. Except for several meets in the 70s & 80s, when the East Germans were doped up.
Will Phelps win 8 gold medals? I had this discussion with my brother, & I hope not. It would be an indictment on swimming, & how similar so many events are, if Phelps wins 8 gold medals.
With no disrespect to Phelps intended, I hope it doesn’t happen. I actually think it will be bad for swimming. You can’t imagine a single athlete winning 8 gold meals at the one Olympics athletic meet. It shouldn’t happen in swimming either.
ofc said | July 13th 2008 @ 9:22pm | Report comment
you mentioned the USA swimming team”failed” 2 times in your article.. hmmm interesting . Let’s see if the Australian can win half gold medals count as the American , i read somewhere some Australian even said that the Australian alone will win 12 gold medals.. so i now believe that Australian are optimistic people
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hello from NY.