Schooling Celebrates Rio Gold 2016 – from:businessinsider.com
Article by John Manenti
With the entry into the new Millennium, il Swimming and, in particular, the butterfly style, has only one undisputed ruler in the “cannibal” americano Michael Phelpsor the one capable of winning, in individual competitions only, well 37 Gold Medals between the Olympics and the World Championships, of which 18 in the Butterfly style15 in medley events and 4 in freestyle…
Moreover, Phelps finds a greater competition on the shorter distance of the 100m butterfly, especially from compatriot Ian Crocker who, in addition to defeating him in the Barcelona 2003 and Montreal 2005 World Championships, took away his world recordimproving it in both the aforementioned circumstances, before the “Baltimore kid” reappropriated it at the beginning of July 2009.
Period, in which the costumes in polyurethane, the so-called “gummed”, in which to counter the hegemony of the American faces Serbian Milorad Cavicwho – in addition to having risked preventing him from the fantastic coat of 8 Gold Medals at the 2008 Beijing Games, divided (50”58 to 50”59) by just 0”01 cent in a not a little contested finish – gives life to a stratospheric challenge on the occasion of the Rome 2009 World Championships, improving the absolute record in 50”01 in the semifinals and then being defeated by Phelps in the Finalbut with both going down (49”82 to 49”95) below the ”barrier of 50” net” …
The situation is quite different m.200 butterfly, which saw Phelps take over the world record at the end of March 2001 with a time of 1’54″92 and then improve it on 7 other occasions up to 1’51″51 in the aforementioned Rassegna di Roma 2009a limit destined to remain unmatched for an entire decade.
Curious, however, the fact that, while in the various editions of the World Cup the American remains undefeated, making the title his own on 5 occasions, from Fukuoka 2011 to Shanghai 2011 (with the only exception of Montreal 2005 as not entered on this test …), in the Panorama Olimpico suffers an unexpected setback at the 2012 London Games precisely on the 200m butterfly, surrendering by only 0”05 cents (1’52”96 to 1’53”01) to the South African Chad le Closexcept to take his revenge three days later on the 100 meters, where he collects, vice versa, his third consecutive Gold after those of Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 …
A Michael Phelps who, after announcing his return at the end of the London Review, has second thoughts and is proposed again for the next edition of Rio de Janeiro 2016albeit with a reduced program compared to the past, by enrolling in only three individual competitions, namely 100m and 200m butterfly and 200m medley.
American who, despite having now crossed the threshold of 30 years (he turned 31 on June 30 …), always proves to be the man to beat, returning to the throne of the m.200 butterfly having the better (1’53″36 to 1’53″40) on the 21 year old Japanese Masato Sakai (with the Clos off the podium …) and therefore triumphing for the fourth consecutive edition in the Final of the m .200 mixeda feat that has no equal in the history of the Olympics in a single individual competition …
Specialties they see Phelps climb to the top step of the podium respectively on 9 and 11 August, the latter date in which he also contests the semifinals of the 100m butterflywhose Final is scheduled for the following day and which sees an unexpected protagonist the 21-year-old Joseph Schooling from Singapore, who recorded the best time both in the heat and in the semifinal, with 51″41 and 50″83 respectivelyin the second case Asian record.
Born on 16 June 1995 in Singapore, Schooling is at his second Olympic experienceeven though four years earlier in London he failed to pass the batteries, only 26th on the 200m butterflies and even 35th on the shortest distance, while the following year, on the occasion of the Barcelona 2013 World Cup – where, in the absence of Phelps, it is up to le Clos to impose himself on both butterfly races – comes close to qualifying for the semifinals of the 100m butterfly, first of those excluded by just 0.04 cents, finish line vice versa centered on the double distance, to then finish sixth in the first of the two series …
Standing out – when he attends the “University of Texas” in Austin – on the occasion of Incheon 2014 Asian Games, where he is Gold on the 100m butterfly, silver on the 50m (non-Olympic specialty …) and bronze on the 200m – in addition to taking the silver behind le Clos (51”29 to 51”69) on the 100m butterfly at the “Commonwealth Games” of Glasgow – Schooling fulfills the “breakthrough” at the World Championship review which takes place at the beginning of August 2015 in Kazanwhere, having abandoned the longest distance, he enrolled in the 50m and 100m butterfly races.
Kazan 2015 podium with Schooling, Le Clos and Cseh – da:gettyimages.it
And, in a review that, orphaned by the US champion, sees the Clos rise to the fore and the now close to 30 years old Laszlo Csehwho exchange the podium of the 100m and 200m butterfly – respectively the South African first on the shortest distance with the Hungarian second, with the positions reversed on the longest – here is the 20-year-old Schooling reaches the Final of the m.50 butterfly finishing seventh with the Asian record of 23″25 and even climbs on the podium in the Final of the 100 meters, in which Le Clos establishes the African record in 50″56, Cseh the national one in 50″87 and Schooling improves the Asian one with a time of 50”96first time in his career that he drops below 51” net …
Not a stranger, therefore, Schooling when it prepares in lane four on the starting blocks of the Final of the 100m butterfly which takes place at 10.10pm local time in the “Olympic Aquatic Stadium” of the Brazilian Metropolis and there are not few who recall what had happened almost 30 years earlier to the Seoul 1988 Games, with the American Matt Biondi, great favourite, outwitted by just 0″01 cents (53″00 to 53″01) by Antony Nesty, swimmer from Surinamefor his country’s first and still only Olympic Gold Medal.
And, in this respect, there is an identical analogy, given that, with the exception of the silver captured by weightlifter Tan Howe Liang in 1960 in Rome, Singapore’s only other Olympic medals come (one silver and two bronzes…) from Table Tennis, which is why Schooling could also become the first athlete to give a Gold medal to his nation …
To try to prevent thishistoric” enterprise, a “scary trio”, consisting of the many times mentioned Phelps, le Clos and Cseh who – despite having to deal with age, with the Hungarian’s 30 springs and the American’s 31, while the South African, just 24 years old, does not seem to be in the same shape as he was in the last four years – they hope that the young Asian feel the weight and emotion of such an important appointment as an Olympic Final.
Nothing could be more wrong, because Schooling – that was it”Heated” also taking part in the m.100sl, eliminated in the semifinals, despite having achieved the national battery record in 48”27 – he does not show any awe, giving a high pace to his strokes right from entering the water, which leads him to tack in 23″54 in the middle of the race with a 0″32 cents margin over the Russian Aleksandr Sadovnikov and 0″40 over the 17-year-old Chinese Li Zhuhaowhile and “big three” they chase, with Cseh passing in 24”06, the Clos in 24”09 and Phelps in 24”16, more than 0”50 cents more than in a race of this type is enormous …
The joy of Schooling as Rio 2016 arrives – da:gettyimages.it
The only hope remains for Schooling to collapse in the return pool – what happens to Sadovnikov who even finishes last – but, on the contrary, the Singaporean representative is still the fastest of the lot, increasing his margin until he triumphs in the time of 50″39 which, in addition to representing the obvious Asian record, also improves the Olympic record set four years earlier by the American with 50”58.
And the others …?? Well, this time theOlympus gods” certainly do not sin of imagination, since, more unique than rare, both Phelps, Cseh and the Clos touch with the same time at the hundredth of 51″14 so as to share the second step of the podiumas if fate had decided that all three of them together had to pay homage to the one who, at least for that day, had proved to be the best …
It must be said that, compared to the aforementioned Nesty – who had added the world title at the 1991 Perth World Cup and the bronze at the 1992 Barcelona Games to the Seoul 1988 Gold – Schooling does not give much follow-up to this enterprise, obtaining in the future as best placement the confirmation of the bronze medal at the Budapest 2017 event, in which the hierarchies have already changed, with the American Caeleb Dressel prevailing in 49″86 ahead of the then 17-year-old Hungarian Kristof Milakor the one who will take away from Michael Phelps the absolute record on the 200m butterfly.
But, in all honesty, we believe that good Schooling is interested in what is right, its “Moment of Glory” (and what a Glory …!!) he lived it anyway and no one will ever be able to take it away from him …
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