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发表于 2012-3-8 18:54:40
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本帖最后由 我不知道我是谁 于 2012-3-8 18:55 编辑
Ellen Gandy survived "suicide" pace to earn Olympic selection for Britain over 200m butterfly here at the London Aquatics Centre after challenging a world record set in booster bodysuit now banned before being barely able to get her arms over the water in the closing 10 metres of "the most painful race of my life".
Where world championships medals, including silver for Gandy, in Shanghai last year were granted to swimmers on 2mins 05sec last year, the world record of 2:01.81 set by China's 2008 Olympic champion Liu Zige in a 2009 full polyurethane bodysuit since ruled out of the pool, may have to wait for a future generation to catch it up.
Gandy's attempt at time travel on the way to a 2min 06.01sec victory took her through the first of three lengths a hand away from the speed of Liu and her suit before all watching got to see just what the buoy of yesteryear's apparel was all about.
It was not until just shy of half-way home down the last length that the debt-collector came calling, Gandy gradually cranking back to the pace of pain as Jemma Lowe got closer with every stroke.
Mercifully, the 21-year-old champion based in Melbourne, did not pay the kind of price that others in the super-starter speed club have in the past (Rebecca Soni over 200m breaststroke in Rome 2009 etc etc). Gandy's victory not only securing Olympic selection for the British champion but helping to draw Swansea's Lowe, on 2:06.37, inside target time for a place at London 2012 with her.
The result and splits:
•Ellen Gandy (91) Beckenham 2:06.01(27.46,58.31, 1:30.94)
•[Liu Zige, 2009 China 2:01.81 (27.19, 58.08, 1:30.20]
•Jemma Lowe (90) Swansea Perf 2:06.37(28.44,1:00.07, 1:32.45)
•Jessica Dickons (90) Edinburgh Un 2:09.21(28.74,1:00.81, 1:34.07
A measure of progress from previous trials:
•2008: Lowe 2:07.61; Gandy 2:07.69; Dickons 2:10.11
•2004: Lee 2:09.42; Dunning 2:11.84; Coole 2:13.73
Gandy admitted that the pace of rubber had not been planned as a test: "I was so unbelievably nervous before that race. I thought I'd be more relaxed because I was on the team for the 100m and I felt I was going to faint in the call room," she explained. "My nerves must have taken me out really fast and I absolutely paid for that on the last 50m - I don't think my coach is going to be happy with that at all."
With that nod to coach Rohan Taylor back home in Melbourne, Gandy added: "I've just got to go back and analyse what happened and hopefully it won't happen again."
The Bromley-born winner of the 100m at these trials added: "If you swim it properly it (the last 25m) shouldn't be too bad, but that was suicide. I just wished the wall was closer, I felt like I was swimming uphill. It was very painful."
Looking ahead to the summer, she added: "It's just mistakes you learn from and I'll go back and analyse it and make sure it doesn't happen at the Olympics. Even though the pacing wasn't what I wanted it to be, I was able to defend my title and get to the Olympic Games in my main event so I couldn't be happier."
For Lowe, qualification came as a relief after she missed the cut in the 100, Gandy and Fran Halsall grabbing the sprint berths. She said: "It has been such an emotional week for me and I am just really happy I managed to get my place on the team. I was so nervous, I knew I had to keep relaxed and I'd be able to do it. I just concentrated on myself and had the confidence I could come back on the second 100m and finish hard."
Of the last 25m, Lowe, coached by Bud McAllister at Swansea ITC, said: "I was thinking about the Olympics and how hard I've worked and it got me to the end."
After hugging each other, Gandy and Lowe turned to console Jessica Dickons, third for the second time in four years at Olympic trials. The three podium placers had grown up together as members of the Smart Track squad of talent hand-picked at the age of 13 and 14. Dickons said she had "no regrets", had travelled all over the world in a career she had thoroughly enjoyed and in which she had celebrated some fine achievements. She would be there in the summer to cheer for her friends racing at the Games.
They and Rachel George, a former London swimmer no longer in the sport but also selected back in 2004, had planned lunch tomorrow in London to celebrate. "We're all good friends. What happens in the pool stays in the pool," said Dickons.
Not all things belong in the pool, said Gandy. Before her final, she tweeted followers a link to documentary film "Invisible Children" about warlord Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) operating in Uganda andy other African countries, and his heinous recruitment of child soldiers. The viral campaign has the support of the likes of pop singer Justin Bieber.
Gandy said of the documentary: "It was inspiring stuff. Everyone needs to see it and spread awareness. We get a bit enclosed in our swimming world and don't know what's going on outside."
Her job at trials done, Gandy will spend a few days catching up with friends in London before travelling home to Melbourne in Australia. Asked if she would returned for Britain's team training camp at the London pool in April, she replied: "Yep, frequent flyer points!" An apt response from a frequent flyer of such note.
Among those with the strongest shot at making the podium and even gold this summer, Gandy's life Down Under has put some distance between her and the "pressure of a home Games" so often referred to. "Being here for the past two weeks has made me more aware of it." said Gandy. "It's nice to separate myself from it and get to enjoy it only in little bits at a time."
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