China's athletes just work harder, says former British swim coach

A British swimming coach has weighed in on how China’s athletes are raised and trained, saying that Chinese athletes are just highly dedicated to their sports.

In a piece yesterday in the Guardian, the coach (who is not named buy who the Guardian says has been verified) responds to what s/he says are inaccurate comments about how China’s athletes.

I am certainly not aware of any talent ID programme – I am coaching five swimmers on this Olympic team and three of them I selected myself when they were 13 years old. No one "advised" or told me who to select – I just used my experience and "trained eye" to spot the guys I thought would be good.

Treading water

NBC, the perennial U.S. broadcaster of the Olympics, is thrilled to announce it just might break even for the London 2012 Games.

"We are way ahead of where we thought we'd be," NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke announced today.

Where they thought they would be was $200 million in the hole, even after selling $1 billion in advertising for the 16 days of the Games, $150 million more than in Beijing. The broadcaster also sold $60 million in online advertising, triple its previous sales because it is live-streaming the Games for the first time.

NBC has had to fend off much grumbling over its time delay strategy to shift crowd-winning broadcasts to prime time despite the five-hour time difference with London. Because of that, NBC had expected ratings to be down from the Beijing Games four years ago by as much as 20 per cent. They're not, Burke said: they're up by 9 per cent, thanks to swimmer Michael Phelps and the U.S. women's gynmastic team.

NBC paid $1.2 billion for the broadcast rights.  

 

Bloody Cesar

 

The fastest man in the pool isn't Michael Phelps. It's Brazil's Cesar Cielo, who is psyching himself up to claim another gold in the 50-metre freestyle swim on Thursday.

It's how he psyches himself up that might make you cringe.

The 25-year-old world record holder thumps his chest so hard you can see the imprint of his hands. He says it motivates him and wakes up his body.

His record in the event, set in Rome in 2009 and in Shanghai last year at the World Championships, is 20.91 seconds.

Another Twitter attack on British diver

British diver Tom Daley, target of a fan's abusive messages, is now the target of an anti-gay Twitter slur.

A Welsh Premier League soccer player has been suspended while the club investigates the message sent to Daley from midfielder Daniel Thomas's phone.

Thomas contends someone was playing a joke with his phone.

The Port Talbot Town club says it is investigating Thomas, the British news agency Press Association reports.

The club said the 28-year-old Thomas told them he "regrettably left his phone unattended and was the victim of a very misguided prank." Thomas will remain suspended during the internal investigation, however, the club said.

Daley, 18, and diving partner Pete Waterfield missed out winning a medal at the Lond Games Olympics when they finished fourth in the 10m synchronised dive on Monday.

A 17-year-old enraged and distraught at Daley's medal loss attacked the diver with Twitter messages and has been arrested.

OMG The Bieb tweeted me

What's almost as good as winning a gold medal? Getting a tweet from Justin Bieber.

Almost-Canadian Missy Franklin got a heart-stopping message from her favourite singer after winning the 100-metre backstroke that read:

 “Heard @FranklinMissy is a fan of mine. Now I’m a fan of hers too. CONGRATS on winning GOLD. #muchlove.”

The 17-year-old American swimmer, whose parents are Canadian, wrote back: “I just died! Thank you!”

That tweet, Franklin said, was "pretty close" to the thrill of winning gold at the Olympics. She's already been to one Bieber concert in Denver and plans to go to his next.

 “I could not believe it when I saw it," she said. "I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off.”

The 18-year-old Stratford sensation is the world's most followed man, with more than 25 million Twitter followers.

On the fly

London Mayor Boris Johnson loves the camera but might be feeling a little jilted today. The lenses that follow him everywhere managed to catch Hizzoner dangling undignified from a fly wire that got stuck in mid-hoist.

Ground staff had to rescue the Mayor from his perch in his blue hard hat feebly waving a  Union Jack in each hand.

Johnson had been the first to try the zip wire to get to Victoria Park in Hackney to watch the rowing.

The mayor, reknown for his erudition, was heard shouting, "Get me a rope, get me a ladder," the Evening Standard reported.

He might have had a hand, though, in the statement released by his office:

 "The Mayor has survived his first zip-wire experience relatively unscathed. Clearly the judges will rightly be marking him down for artistic impression and it is unlikely he’ll be taking any gold medals home today. But he remains unbowed."

 

Gold-medal double take

You don't really get used to your son winning medals, even if he is Michael Phelps. Chief booster Debbie Phelps showed that in the seconds when she thought Michael had won another gold in the 200-metre butterfly earlier in these Games ... and then hearing from her daughters that the photo-finish was actually a silver.

That instant of triumph becomes an instant of utter astonishment. Silver? Michael?  

That was three medals ago, number 15 in the pool for Phelps. Now he holds the record as the most decorated Olympian ever, with 19.

Right the first time, Mrs. Phelps.

 

Blame Martin Short

Why is there no men's synchronized swimming competition at the Olympics?

An alarming number of people, including Toronto's handful of male synchronized swimmers, would blame a Saturday Night Live sketch by Martin Short and Harry Shearer for forever preventing men in nose plugs to be taken seriously.

Boxing has broken the last gender barrier for women at the Olympics this year, though, and now men are demanding equality.

Stephen Adshead, manager of the U.K.'s only male synchronized swimming team, the Out to Swim Angels  set up three years ago, has written to the IOC asking for equal time. Limiting synchronized swimming to just women is "blatant inequality and unfair," he wrote.

(The two-man Breathless Synchro Toronto team, founded by Andrew Delaware, competed at the World OutGames in 2009. At the time, Delaware joked: "Martin Short should be shot." His parner, Nathan Doidge, called it "fast-paced, demanding exercise.)

There's also a push on to include men's rhythmic gymnastics, which is different from the women's version. Based on martial arts, men's rhythmic gymnastics has the support of the Japanese Gymnastics Association to get it included.

 

 

Olympics Wednesday: Here's what we're watching

After winning three medals Tuesday, Canada has another potential haul on tap today:

The Canadian men's rowing eight looks to defend its Olympic title in the final starting at 7:40 a.m. (all times Eastern)

Also on the medals watch, Brent Hayden swims in the final of the men's 100-metre freestyle at 3:20 p.m.

Canadian Star Alexandre Despatie and his partner Reuben Ross go for gold in the men's three-metre synchronized event, starting at 10 a.m.

Clara Hughes races in the women's cycling time trials at 7:30 a.m., while Ryder Hesjedal is battling for position in the men’s at 9:15 a.m.

Canadian boxer Simon Kean makes his Olympic boxing debut against France's Tony Yoka in the Men's Super Heavy (+91 kg) Round of 16 at 5:45 p.m.

In women's basketball, Canada lost France in a preliminary Group B match.