London 2012 Day 2 and 3
Perhaps the biggest surprises of the first two days of full competition are the failures of Michael Phelps and Jordyn Wieber in their respective competitions. Phelps was the two-time gold medalist in the 400 free, a race he had said after Beijing that he would never do again. Perhaps he should have listened to his won advice, as he flopped badly to a 4th-place finish, and was off the podium for the first time since Sydney, 12 years ago.
Dewitt-native Wieber came into the games as perhaps the most-hyped competitor of the entire games (the women's gymnastic team was on the cover of the SI Olympic preview issue), and pehaps the SI cover jinx struck again, as she finished third...only two per team qualify for the team finals. BTW, am I the only person who believes that the "Women's" Gymnastics competition should be split into two divisions, using age 20 as the split? This way the teen-agers could do their thing, which would allow the Wiebers, etc... to compete and win, but also allow the Nastia Liukins, 27-year-old British favorite Elizabeth Tweddle,etc... to continue to compete and actually have a chance to win. This would be a win-win for everybody: NBC would get more gymnastics with their high TV ratings, the teen-agers could do their stunts, and actual women could have a chance. Makes too much sense to me.
Perhaps the biggest surprises of the first two days of full competition are the failures of Michael Phelps and Jordyn Wieber in their respective competitions. Phelps was the two-time gold medalist in the 400 free, a race he had said after Beijing that he would never do again. Perhaps he should have listened to his won advice, as he flopped badly to a 4th-place finish, and was off the podium for the first time since Sydney, 12 years ago.
Dewitt-native Wieber came into the games as perhaps the most-hyped competitor of the entire games (the women's gymnastic team was on the cover of the SI Olympic preview issue), and pehaps the SI cover jinx struck again, as she finished third...only two per team qualify for the team finals. BTW, am I the only person who believes that the "Women's" Gymnastics competition should be split into two divisions, using age 20 as the split? This way the teen-agers could do their thing, which would allow the Wiebers, etc... to compete and win, but also allow the Nastia Liukins, 27-year-old British favorite Elizabeth Tweddle,etc... to continue to compete and actually have a chance to win. This would be a win-win for everybody: NBC would get more gymnastics with their high TV ratings, the teen-agers could do their stunts, and actual women could have a chance. Makes too much sense to me.
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