Category Archives: World Championships 2015

Swimming World Championships 2015 – Summary

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So, the Championship is over and it’s now time to make some summaries. If we are looking at the medal standings, we see that USA won the most gold medals – 8, but this was nevertheless a disappointing World Championship for the Americans – they won 13 golds in the previous one. Another nation who was a major disappointment is of course the host nation – Russia. Only uno gold and 4 medals in total – what a terrible haul. The Russians had several huge fuck ups here, and even their one swimmer who was truly excellent – Yuliya Yefimova, is not free of criticism (remember her 200m breaststroke?). Continue reading →

Swimming World Championships 2015 – Day 8

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The Championships is over. As always, I ask “already?!”. And as always I feel sad when it’s done, knowing that it’ll be a full year until I will see again the likes of Ledecky, Sjostrom, Sun Yang, etc… Luckily, it’s only a year. When the 2013 edition ended we had to wait two fucking years! Anyway, The morning heats had the usual amount of Russian incompetence. The women’s quartet missed the medley relay final, paying the price for going out with not their strongest quartet, and the men as well! Well, no, actually the men’s relay team made it, but only because the Hungarians were DQ’d (and rightfully so). But still – had they not been disqualified, no Russian team would have been present in the medleys final! What an embarrassment. Anyway, let’s see what the final afternoon session of the Championships had to offer… Continue reading →

Swimming World Championships 2015 – Day 7

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The morning sessions today had a couple of surprises in them, the main one being Sun Yang in his 1500m heat, where he finished only 3rd, well behind Paltrinieri and even behind Connor Jaeger. Could it be that he was simply saving his efforts for the final? I really hope so. Because it was really unnatural seeing him like this. After winning both the 400m and the 800m, I can’t imagine him losing the 1500m… but who knows. The second surprise was a personal one, when Israeli swimmer Guy Barnea failed to qualify for the 50m backstroke semifinals, after featuring in the final two years ago. Anyway, evening sessions – the stage is yours. Continue reading →

Swimming World Championships 2015 – Day 6

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Another day of awesome swimming. Today we once again had 5 finals, and in the morning heats we saw a true legend of the sport return to the pool, as Grant Hackett swam the first leg of the 4x200m relay for Israel Australia. Sadly, he didn’t get a chance to participate in the final, even though he swam a decent split and won his leg. Anyway, let’s move on to the afternoon swims, shall we? Continue reading →

Swimming World Championships 2015 – Day 5

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Five days already behind us. Today was another good day. Well, for us the spectators, not so much for the host nation. The heats this morning were really disastrous for Russia, as first Efimova, the 100m breaststroke champion, failed to advance to the semifinals in the 200m, and then the women’s 4x200m team failed to make the final. A personal disappointment for me was Yakov Toumarkin, who, after performing so well in his previous two events and advancing to the semis in both, failed to make the semis in his main event – the 200m backstroke… A real disappointment. Well, enough about disappointments, there were also some good things, right? Right. So, as my good friend Eminem says – let’s get down to business. Continue reading →

Swimming World Championships 2015 – Day 4

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Ok, so yesterday we had a break due to the wedding I attended in the evening. I watched the swims but right after the final one – the women’s 100m breaststroke final – I went to the wedding, BTW, the groom – Roman, who is an old friend of mine, used to be a competitive swimmer himself, and is one of the very few people with whom I used to discuss the swimming events. Roman, if you’re reading this – mazal tov! Anyway, yesterday was amazing but I can’t really write about it, since it would take much time I don’t really posses. So without Freddy Adu, let’s move on to today’s events. I promise to make up for the lost time in two years. Continue reading →

Swimming World Championships 2015 – Day 2

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Ok, day 2! Before we dive into the afternoon action of the finals and semifinals – I know I said I won’t write about the morning sessions, but I just can’t ignore what Katie Ledecky did. This girl is phenomenal and this morning she broke her own WR in the 1,500m (15:27.71). I guess she was really upset that she missed the WR in the 400m yesterday, and decided to take it out on the morning heats. Boy was that extraordinary! Her time at the 800m mark – 8:15.29, is merely 4 seconds off the WR in the 800m!!! @#%#$%@#%#$% And it’s a time that probably can win the 800m here, if Katie of the 800m won’t participate. WOW. This is just too much of a mind-fuck. Katie Ledecky – you da real MVP! Continue reading →

Swimming World Championships 2015 – Day 1

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Well, the Swimming World Championships is finally under way! Such medals! Much excitement! I will cover the Championships in the blog, but I will only write about the evening sessions, without the morning heats. I watch them, since they can be really interesting sometimes, and many Israeli swimmers take part in the heats, but I don’t want to write posts that are 4,000 words long. I’m not Bill Simmons (sadly 😦 ). When the Championship ends, I will write some additional posts about swimmers and their medals and how the historical all-time medals rankings changed (and they will go through some changes, I guarantee you that). Continue reading →