Did Phelps rally win that 7th Gold??

TonLars

Professional
Edit: really*

Unbelievable race! Another crazy finish. But after seeing the replays several different times, different speeds, different angles, I dont understand how Phelps won. It really looks to me like the other guy won. But I guess that last swing of his must have out-touched him by that .01 or it wouldnt have registered that way. What an amazing olympics all of these races have been for Phelps!
 

Breaker

Legend
I replayed it about ten times on my DVR in super slow motion on the underwater view and he definitely barely got the touch in the end. I certainly didn't believe it either until seeing it slowed down at about 1/10th the speed, that was unbelievable.
 

Fee

Legend
Oh, great. Thanks to NBC I won't see that for 3 hours, and the suspense I was trying to keep was killed on a tennis forum of all places.

I hate NBC.
 

Fee

Legend
No worries, my anger is entirely directed at NBC, they are the ones who ALWAYS treat the West Coast poorly (I am sick of their Wimbledon coverage). They should be banned from sports coverage in my opinion.
 

Topaz

Legend
Yes he did win it. The Serbs can protest all they want...the finishes a recorded on an electronic touch pad at the end of the lane. Phelps took that last swing, and it propelled him past the other guy, who was still reaching from his last stroke. As close as you can get, but Phelps won fair and square. I hate when 'delegations' protest like this.
 

YULitle

Hall of Fame
Just in: The Serbians are protesting the finish apparently.:shock:

Hahahahahahahaa. I feel dumb. When I first read this I thought, "This seems out of place... And why are the Serbs protesting the Finns?" :lol: I guess it would've aided my understanding to know that Serbia came in second.
 

TonLars

Professional
Hahahahahahahaa. I feel dumb. When I first read this I thought, "This seems out of place... And why are the Serbs protesting the Finns?" :lol: I guess it would've aided my understanding to know that Serbia came in second.

haha, I can see how someone could read it that way though
 
Yes he did win it. The Serbs can protest all they want...the finishes a recorded on an electronic touch pad at the end of the lane. Phelps took that last swing, and it propelled him past the other guy, who was still reaching from his last stroke. As close as you can get, but Phelps won fair and square. I hate when 'delegations' protest like this.

The final is set and they indeed said the touch was sufficient, Michael Phelps is the champion.

Sore loser, perhaps? :D
 
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AAAA

Hall of Fame
Yes he did win it. The Serbs can protest all they want...the finishes a recorded on an electronic touch pad at the end of the lane. Phelps took that last swing, and it propelled him past the other guy,who was still reaching from his last stroke. As close as you can get, but Phelps won fair and square. I hate when 'delegations' protest like this.


I'd agree with that. In the other races Phelps won because he was the better swimmer, in this race he won because he was the more experienced swimmer. Had the other guy made one extra final stroke, there was room for it, he would have stayed in the lead but instead he just glided the last 2 bit metres. This mistake is akin to dipping too early in a track and field sprint race.
 

Topaz

Legend
The finish is very similar to when the American relay team just beat the French team earlier in the week...it was down to the finish. The French swimmer let up and just tried to reach for the wall...and the American swimmer (who was actually already ahead by the barest of margins) had more momentum into the wall. It is interesting to see the differences in finishes when they show the view from above...a swimmer has to decide in a split second whether or not to take that one extra stroke to the end. Risky, but this time it paid off for Phelps.

I find it fascinating because it shows the strategy behind swimming...when all you may think is that they just hop in the pool and go as fast as possible. There really is a lot more to it.
 

quest01

Hall of Fame
Hes possessed

Phelps did win; they showed about 1000 replays indicating that he won. This guy is like the Batman of swimming and it's absolutely amazing what this guy can do. What planet was this guy beamed from.. he has almost superhuman strength.
 

lovecr717

Rookie
Phelps did win; they showed about 1000 replays indicating that he won. This guy is like the Batman of swimming and it's absolutely amazing what this guy can do. What planet was this guy beamed from.. he has almost superhuman strength.

TOTALLY AGREE!

and "the Batman of swimming " is the best :-D
 

tbini87

Hall of Fame
that race was incredible! i couldn't believe the finish either... the way the two of them finished differently made it look like the other guy was a shoe in for 1st. i think it looks so odd because phelps' arms were back by his head making that last stroke while his opponent's were only a foot or two from the wall. what an exciting race! hope he wins all 8 and makes history now!
 

chess9

Hall of Fame
Edit: really*

Unbelievable race! Another crazy finish. But after seeing the replays several different times, different speeds, different angles, I dont understand how Phelps won. It really looks to me like the other guy won. But I guess that last swing of his must have out-touched him by that .01 or it wouldnt have registered that way. What an amazing olympics all of these races have been for Phelps!

I still think it was some sort of equipment malfrunction. Check with Janet Jackson! ;)

Phelps could NOT have won that race. No way. The Serb was robbed.

-Robert
 

raiden031

Legend
The serbs protested and officials reviewed the finish in ultra-slow motion and were convinced that Phelps won. I was too. It looked like the other guy took his time touching the wall whereas phelp's arm accelerated quickly to touch the wall. The guy basically gave the win to phelp's probably not realizing how close it was.
 
M

Mark Vessels

Guest
do you think he will retire after this olympics like JHH, afterall he pretty much dominated the sport
 

movdqa

Talk Tennis Guru
Omega had high-speed underwater cameras which is what the officials and the Serbs reviewed to determine that Phelps won.
 
do you think he will retire after this olympics like JHH, afterall he pretty much dominated the sport


He said that that he will be moving back to Baltimore after the Olympics, taking a much needed break and stop training until February 2009. I think he also said will compete in London, but won't be compete in that many events. Justine Henin was good, but she wasn't that good.
 

Fee

Legend
I still think it was some sort of equipment malfrunction. Check with Janet Jackson! ;)

Phelps could NOT have won that race. No way. The Serb was robbed.

-Robert

He wasn't robbed. Thankfully there were cameras in place to show exactly what happened and he can rest easy knowing that he really did lose. The difference between floating to the touch and lunging to the touch.
 

Fedace

Banned
Does this pretty make him a Millionare ?? I know the prize money in Swim meets isn't all that high but i heard that the endorsement money is in the Millions.
 

Jonnyf

Hall of Fame
Edit: really*

Unbelievable race! Another crazy finish. But after seeing the replays several different times, different speeds, different angles, I dont understand how Phelps won. It really looks to me like the other guy won. But I guess that last swing of his must have out-touched him by that .01 or it wouldnt have registered that way. What an amazing olympics all of these races have been for Phelps!


Atos Origin are incharge of publishing the results. If they've said he's won. He has....;-)
 
D

Deleted member 3771

Guest
I thought i was going blind. It looked like the Serb definitely won, even on the slow motion replay. But Phelps somehow touched the wall first as some other cameras showed.
 

DashaandSafin

Hall of Fame
It wasnt so much of a mistake to glide into the wall as a risky move by Phelps. However, I guess the half stroke payed off. Cesh didn't mess up or anything.
 

Kobble

Hall of Fame
Remember Biondi vs. Nesty? I haven't seen the tape in years, but I remember Biondi coming up short and having to kick to the wall, but Nesty just timed it perfect.
 

scotus

G.O.A.T.
Getting to the finish line in swimming race is a tricky business.

If you can't touch the wall at the end of your full stroke, then you have to decide whether to (1) glide a little, or (2) do a quick half-stroke, because both of these options will get you to the finish line faster than an additional full stroke.

If the remaining distance is small, then gliding is a better option. If it is a bit longer, then you must take the half-stroke.

In this race, the Serbian swimmer had the faster start and had the race pretty much won. But Phelp's decision to go for a quick half-stroke worked well with his faster final speed and ultimately gave him the gold.
 
D

Deleted member 3771

Guest
the 100m medley relay for Phelps' 8th gold just began
 
D

Deleted member 3771

Guest
japanese guy blitzed them in the breaststroke leg. Phelps killed them in the butterfly leg. 1 full body length lead. USA win first by half a body, Aus 2nd , Japan 3rd.
 
D

Deleted member 3771

Guest
Thats the 8th Gold for Phelps. :shock: He can retire now
 

Breaker

Legend
And already a Morgan Freeman commercial for Phelps's eighth gold, guess NBC will have a field day with this for a while.
 

Fee

Legend
Thats the 8th Gold for Phelps. :shock: He can retire now

He's planning to swim in 2012, but only four or five events I believe. And he's going to play doubles with Federer (just kidding).

And already a Morgan Freeman commercial for Phelps's eighth gold, guess NBC will have a field day with this for a while.


Really? Those are Visa commercials, I saw the one for the 7th gold, but my favorite is the one about Derek Redmond. Visa must have had Freeman film about 100 of those commercials, just in case (after all, Shawn Johnson was favored to win the all around, but they have one for Liukin on the air now).
 

thor's hammer

Semi-Pro
The Timekeeper and the Gold Medalist

From a NY Times article...

"Shortly after Saturday’s disputed race, Alina Ivanescu, a spokeswoman for Omega, told The New York Times that the company would soon forward the video images to the news media. Later Saturday, though, Ivanescu sent an e-mail message saying that FINA decided not to release any timekeeping images to the news media.

...Phelps is on the payroll of Omega, which timed his way to eight gold medals, including a disputed one."
 

AAAA

Hall of Fame
That's interesting. Quote

But Phelps was involved in a disputed race last Saturday. Omega has declined to release underwater video images showing conclusively that Phelps won the 100-meter butterfly by a hundredth of a second over Milorad Cavic of Serbia, saying that swimming’s world governing body, FINA, made the decision.

Christophe Berthaud, Omega’s Olympic manager, said that there was no human intervention in the determining of race results and that there was “absolutely no doubt” that Phelps won.

Omega, which has timed Olympic events since 1932, uses four digital cameras as a backup to its electronic timing system. Images from track events have routinely been released by Omega.

“The result of the race as declared by the federation is final and the I.O.C. has no reason to question it,” said Giselle Davies, a spokeswoman for the I.O.C.

There's a chance the last quote may well apply to the chinese gymnasts.
 
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scotus

G.O.A.T.
If you have been watching the Olympic broadcast, NBC has repeatedly shown frame-by-frame analyses of the finish of the race.

I do not see anything fishy going on here.
 

movdqa

Talk Tennis Guru
I agree; they showed several angles of the finish and you could see the fingers and palm as they closed in on the wall. The angle of the palm with respect to the wrist told the story.
 

Fee

Legend
I love the conspiracy theorists jumping on this one. Cavic, his coach, and their team officials (who were the ones who actually filed the protest, not Cavic) saw the film and came out of the room and said Phelps won. Cavic posted a statement on his website. NBC has shown frame by frame replays about one thousand times, we don't need FINA to release the tape. The photographs doen't show anything except a lot of shadows and waves, but that underwater camera makes it very clear that Phelps won by the tiniest margin visible to the camera's eye. Remarkable technology.
 
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