Women’s 200 free – 2014 US Nationals:
At the 100, it was neck and neck between Katie Ledecky and Missy Franklin. The pair flipped at 56.64 and 56.74, respectively. On the third 50, Ledecky pulled a little ahead, but Franklin kept it close. At the end of the race, Katie Ledecky reached the wall for the win at 1:55.16. Missy Franklin finished second at 1:56.40. Leah Smith booked her ticket to Pan Pac’s with her third place finish at 1:57.57. Shannon Vreeland finished fourth with her time of 1:57.73. Chelsea Chenault finished fifth with her time of 1:58.60, followed by Cierra Runge at 1:58.70 for sixth. Rounding out the top 8 in the women’s 200 freestyle was Simone Manuel at 1:58.79 and Sarah Henry at 1:59.05. Allison Schmitt won the B-final with her time of 1:58.36. Madisyn Cox finished second at 1:59.22. Emily Allen dropped more than three seconds to win the C-final of the 200 freestyle at 1:59.35.
John Leonard would not have made the mistake Coach Gemmell did, guessing that Shane Gould held all five records in the LATE 70s.
Shane Gould was a great, holding every freestyle record for women, but Shirley Babashoff was her equal (but for the PED using east German’s), she accomplished the same feat. its hard to compare the time period of their greatness because Gould stopped swimming sooner, probably in part because of the presence of the cheating East Germans.
Excellent point well made! Shirley did NOT get the recognition she deserved for her success!
Amen! Shirley was awesome. The biggest thrill of my life as a sports fan was watching the US women beat the steroid-enhanced DDR on the 4×100 free relay at the 1976 Olympics. I watched it on TV with my mother. We screamed until our voices were completely gone. The media had been really cruel to our girls for voicing their suspicions, calling them poor sports.To me it was an even greater feat than the US men beating Russia in hockey. It was like our girls were competing against DUDES!!!!! I don’t think I will ever see anything to top that. The redemption, the REVENGE!!!!!!!
Cynthia Woodhead
Thank you!!! I was just about to remind everybody that Sippy Woodhead was ranked #1 in the world in the 100, 200, 400, and 800 meter freestyles going into the BLOODY 1980 OLYMPIC BOYCOTT!!!!!!!! She arguably got screwed by this more than anybody. Imagine if she had won those events and added 3 relay medals. Phelps would possibly have been talking about surpassing her, as well as the great Mark Spitz. We dinosaurs remember these things! We love you Sippy.
Thanks, I didn’t know that!
Dinosaur? Ouch! LOL LOL LOL LOL But you are right. I love talking about the “old days” with Shirley, Shane, Sippy, Tracy, Tracey Wickham, etc.
Certainly one of the greatest! We may end up calling Katie Ledecky the GOAT female freestyle swimmer by the time her career ends, but she wasn’t able to break Woodhead’s NAG record!
Getting to coach this gem of a swimmer must be like winning the lottery for a coach!
I love his positive approach! I also love his comment about Shane Gould being the standard for greatest (at least female) freestyler in history, and I think he’s quite right!
I agree. If Bruce knows about Shane then you can bet Katie does as well. What a wonderful calling out to the greatest female freestyler in history. Love it.