Quote:
Originally Posted by octothorp
Out of 25 athletes, only 5 did not swim in at least a semi-final. Of these, some have top 16 finishes in the last year (Poon, Hunks), and some are under 22, (King-16, Bois-21, Seeman-16) and this experience will be crucial if they're trying to medal in London.
Who from this list would you have kept home, without the foresight to know who would underperform?
I'm not saying there aren't disappointments here. Hayden was a big disappointment, and it would have been great to see either freestyle relay team medal. But in the end, in most of these swimming events, there are 64 entries, and lots of those who never get beyond the opening round are from countries with excellent medal programs: Australia, China, Germany, etc. Why should we hold our athletes to a higher standard than any other country in the world?
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Perhaps I am arguing the wrong point or coming across with the wrong point but my problem isn't with choking athletes or underperforming athletes but with the fact that so many of our athletes are not competitve at all.
I keep harping on the 25th finish as a Canadian record result because to me that is awful.
My problem with this Olympics is just how uncompetitve we are in so many events.
I actually have no problwm with the performance of a Hayden or Brown as at least they were competitive in their events. It is the folks who are finishing 40+ or 20+ with Canadian records that is my probelm.
Early on the chokers were a high point for the Olympic team not something to be down on.