Swimming at the Aquatics FINA World Championships 2022

[JoshMartini007 2,547]

13 minutes ago, Werloc said:

Can't put into words how absolutely insane and unprecedented this comeback is.

 

She told everyone to not expect anything of her and that she is only swimming for herself now.

 

She is not pushing herself too hard for results and she's only been training for half a year after a three year hiatus.

 

She is no longer dealing with the bullshit of journalists that were one of the primary reasons she fell into depression and decided not to pursue professional sports.

 

And now she is back, with a bronze medal at the World Championships, only 0.09s away from the gold.

 

We don't know how long we'll have her, she might even say that she quits swimming again tomorrow, but as long as she's in the sport, I'm going to continue to support her, because she is capable of so many great things and is an absolute fighter.

 

I'm hoping she'll go for Paris OG, but I definitely understand if she decides not to. I'm just happy that she gave us the comeback that many of us Lithuanian fans were secretly hoping for, especially when the rumours started flying that she's swimming in Kaunas again.

 

What a star. 

 

Mental health is so important. Not everyone can handle being thrust into the limelight, especially now with social media where a lot of these athletes are only a click away from being directly contacted.

 

It is always so sad when the media/public effectively destroy someone's sporting career because they couldn't live up to the high standards.

[Monzanator 4,531]

Italy is having a good champs for sure, some 17yo won 100m breaststoke? Also I thought Meilutyte has retired? Good to see her win a medal 10 years after the London shock.

[Werloc 3,171]

5 minutes ago, Monzanator said:

Italy is having a good champs for sure, some 17yo won 100m breaststoke? Also I thought Meilutyte has retired? Good to see her win a medal 10 years after the London shock.

Meilutytė was retired, she started swimming again this winter, she participated in two 25m course local competitions, Lithuanian 50m course championships and one swimming meet in Stockholm. These World Championships are only her 5th appearance in a swimming competition since coming back.

[OlympicsFan 860]

1 hour ago, Monzanator said:

Italy is having a good champs for sure, some 17yo won 100m breaststoke? Also I thought Meilutyte has retired? Good to see her win a medal 10 years after the London shock.

I think she was banned. Now she comes back and swims her best time in 5 years or so. Ridiculous really. The Justin Gatlin of swimming. Her winning a medal is a huge loss for the sport.

[AsensioWillemsen 158]

39 minutes ago, OlympicsFan said:

I think she was banned. Now she comes back and swims her best time in 5 years or so. Ridiculous really. The Justin Gatlin of swimming. Her winning a medal is a huge loss for the sport.

I don’t think this was a silent ban. She seemed to have issues with the fact that she was not on the level she used to be. The prize of her early and sudden success.

 

I’m happy to see her back here, also happy to see Italian swimming totally shine. Obviously the edge over Australia and GB can also be contributed to them having the commonwealths as their main goal this year.

[hckošice 14,931]

wait, it already started ? I thought it is next week... damn

 

Will there be a place with the replays available later ?

[dullard 707]

5 hours ago, Federer91 said:

This is true and this time i'm on the side of the TV networks. The past couple of years all the governing bodies and whatnot thought they were the Champions League or the Premier League in their demands and greed and lost track of their place in the (sporting) world... 

 

Case in point, FINA, who are rather delusional of their importance in the grande scheme of things. IAAF (pardon WA..) are next in line. 

 

When this was on Eurosport it was treated like a big thing, like a jewel for many, many years. It was getting promotion months in advance and was a staple of the summer along with the Tour, the tennis Slams and the athletics Worlds.. I was crossing the days on the calendar half a year in advance in anticipation. And look at it now.. Last time there was no airing here and now it's on our national broadcaster BNT   That tells it all, when broke BNT has the rights. This means that no one else wanted them, because swimming is irrelevant and they have donated the rights. And by the other comments here, there are countries, bigger swimming countries, that don't even air it at all. 

Australia didn't even buy rights to the 2019 WCs but thankfully it's being broadcast this time.

 

3 hours ago, OlympicsFan said:

I think she was banned. Now she comes back and swims her best time in 5 years or so. Ridiculous really. The Justin Gatlin of swimming. Her winning a medal is a huge loss for the sport.

She missed tests after she'd already stopped training and competing. I don't see anything suspect about her at all.

[NMQ 243]

7 hours ago, Monzanator said:

Italy is having a good champs for sure, some 17yo won 100m breaststoke? Also I thought Meilutyte has retired? Good to see her win a medal 10 years after the London shock.

Pilato was a silver medal in the 50m as a 14yo in 2019, she was already a contender for Tokyo but was DQ in the prelims. It was a slow final and the olympic gold and silver medalists weren't there, though.

[Mkbw50 438]

12 hours ago, Federer91 said:

This is true and this time i'm on the side of the TV networks. The past couple of years all the governing bodies and whatnot thought they were the Champions League or the Premier League in their demands and greed and lost track of their place in the (sporting) world... 

 

Case in point, FINA, who are rather delusional of their importance in the grande scheme of things. IAAF (pardon WA..) are next in line. 

 

When this was on Eurosport it was treated like a big thing, like a jewel for many, many years. It was getting promotion months in advance and was a staple of the summer along with the Tour, the tennis Slams and the athletics Worlds.. I was crossing the days on the calendar half a year in advance in anticipation. And look at it now.. Last time there was no airing here and now it's on our national broadcaster BNT   That tells it all, when broke BNT has the rights. This means that no one else wanted them, because swimming is irrelevant and they have donated the rights. And by the other comments here, there are countries, bigger swimming countries, that don't even air it at all. 

The EBU (which I assume BNT is part of) bought the rights for about 20 different countries a day before the event, and also for Fukuoka.

[Dunadan 1,103]

And here sports fan are bashing RAI because they cut the live broadcast on Rai 2 just after Pilato's win, without showing live on tv interviews etc - not the first time it happens  when they are on Rai 1/2 instead of the sports channel- ...by saying that "This never happens to broadcasters with sports culture like the BBC and German TV!"