Swimming Qualification to Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games

[OlympicsFan 860]

3 hours ago, rafalgorka said:

Benedetta Pilato is extremely impressive. I wonder how much faster than today she will be able to swim in Tokyo. A medal looks more and more within her reach. That would be something. Ruta Meilutyte was 15 years old when she won in London, remember?

Ruta was 15 years and 4 months when she won gold, Pilato will be roughly 16 years and 7 months come Tokyo. Those two are on two completely different talent levels.

[rafalgorka 1,820]

9 minutes ago, OlympicsFan said:

Ruta was 15 years and 4 months when she won gold, Pilato will be roughly 16 years and 7 months come Tokyo. Those two are on two completely different talent levels.

She was such a talent. It's a pity she has finished her career so quickly.

 

 

[rafalgorka 1,820]

But it's also sad that she had these kind of problems as well.

 

https://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/news/ruta-meilutyte-facing-potential-doping-suspension-for-testing-accessibility-rules/

[Werloc 3,191]

21 hours ago, rafalgorka said:

But it's also sad that she had these kind of problems as well.

 

https://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/news/ruta-meilutyte-facing-potential-doping-suspension-for-testing-accessibility-rules/

Well, this was an interesting development.

 

She had already publicly said that she will end her career, missed those tests on purpose, because she didn't bother to inform the testing agency of her current residency.

 

Then, funnily enough, there were some rumours that she had actually started to train and was thinking about coming back, but she was unavailable for three tests by then and was suspended.

 

I think it's because she was hit with success at a very early age, Lithuanians treated her like an absolute star, but then she stopped winning golds and those same people harrassed her through social media and wrote comments everywhere that she got fat and that's why she's slow and incapable of ever achieving anything again. 

 

Every story has multiple sides.

[Werloc 3,191]

Weirdest thing that I can't really explain happened in the Lithuanian Swimming Championships.

 

In the evening session, there was a 100m Breaststroke Lithuanian Record Swim between Andrius Šidlauskas and Giedrius Titenis.

 

They already had a 100m Breaststroke final yesterday that was normal, but I guess this was an extra race to give Titenis a shot at an Olympic quota?

 

I don't know the legality behind this, but both swimmers finished in 59.83 and 59.92 respectively and that is an Olympic qualifying time.

 

Andrius Šidlauskas already had his quota, as for Giedrius Titenis, I don't know if this sort of things counts, but he did it by 0.01s 

[rafalgorka 1,820]

19 minutes ago, Werloc said:

Well, this was an interesting development.

 

She had already publicly said that she will end her career, missed those tests on purpose, because she didn't bother to inform the testing agency of her current residency.

 

Then, funnily enough, there were some rumours that she had actually started to train and was thinking about coming back, but she was unavailable for three tests by then and was suspended.

 

I think it's because she was hit with success at a very early age, Lithuanians treated her like an absolute star, but then she stopped winning golds and those same people harrassed her through social media and wrote comments everywhere that she got fat and that's why she's slow and incapable of ever achieving anything again. 

 

Every story has multiple sides.

This is so sad. But she will always be one of my favourite olympic swimming champions ever. 

[Werloc 3,191]

Just now, rafalgorka said:

This is so sad. But she will always one of my favourite olympic swimming champions ever. 

Well, she resurrected our entire swimming scene with that Olympic gold, so she will always be a legend.

 

Nowadays we have a pretty capable Danas Rapšys, but I really can't support him as much as I did Meilutytė, she was just unique.

 

Would've probably won more medals if people were okay and supportive with her finishing 3rd from time to time. 

 

The whole coach drama was another thing that really messed up the trajectory of her career.

 

Her U14 national record was broken twice this year, by two different girls, but it's the leap of form in U16 that is probably impossible to challenge.

 

But if any of her U16 Breaststroke records fall, you'll be the first to know: Smiltė Plytnykaitė has a full year, Karilė Ališauskaitė has two, since she broke that 50m U14 record this afternoon. 

 

The 100m U14 is still held by Smiltė Plytnykaitė (2007 birth year) and she swam a 1:12.18 in the final yesterday, whilst Ališauskaitė (2008 birth year) swam a 1:17.15

[phelps 8,657]

50 minutes ago, Werloc said:

Well, this was an interesting development.

 

She had already publicly said that she will end her career, missed those tests on purpose, because she didn't bother to inform the testing agency of her current residency.

 

Then, funnily enough, there were some rumours that she had actually started to train and was thinking about coming back, but she was unavailable for three tests by then and was suspended.

 

I think it's because she was hit with success at a very early age, Lithuanians treated her like an absolute star, but then she stopped winning golds and those same people harrassed her through social media and wrote comments everywhere that she got fat and that's why she's slow and incapable of ever achieving anything again. 

 

Every story has multiple sides.

there were also more rumors and dark sides in Ruta's story...

 

some media also wrote that she was caught positive and then put on all the retirement show (and the subsequent no show to the following tests) to escape a sure 4-year ban...

 

in any case, I'm always sad to see those young stars being totally not capable to manage their early success and their backword steps when they happen...

 

I only hope she can find a bit peace inside herself and enjoy the rest of her life without going mad for what has happened to her in the last few years...

 

 

-------

 

by the way, earlier today Benedetta Pilato destroyed her previous PB and National record over the 50m Breaststroke (50m pool)...

 

she swam 29.61, only a couple of tenths of a second outside the WR and 13/100 outside the ER...

 

other relevant clockings from today at the Italian Winter Champs are: Niccolò Martinenghi's 26.56 over the men's 50m Breaststroke and the one-man show by Greg Paltrinieri over the 800m Free, even if he didn't push himself to the limit and swam "only" 7.46.49...

 

also to be mentioned, Alessandro Miressi won the men's 100m Free in 48.22, but in this case I consider this time quite disappointing, as I think he could and should improve a lot his PB and swim close to the 47 dead mark and not survive around his 47.9 national record...

[Werloc 3,191]

8 minutes ago, phelps said:

there were also more rumors and dark sides in Ruta's story...

 

some media also wrote that she was caught positive and then put on all the retirement show (and the subsequent no show to the following tests) to escape a sure 4-year ban...

 

Let me guess, was it the Russian media?  they always liked to find dirt on Rūta.

[Olympian1010 8,292]

20 minutes ago, phelps said:

there were also more rumors and dark sides in Ruta's story...

 

some media also wrote that she was caught positive and then put on all the retirement show (and the subsequent no show to the following tests) to escape a sure 4-year ban...

I wouldn’t give much credence to that reporting. WADA, ITA, IOC will still take actions against an athlete whether or not they had retired. All of the samples from the recent Olympic Games have been retested too