No free passes for Phelps, Gay

2008-06-17 10:42

New York - Swimmer Michael Phelps, sprinter Tyson Gay and gymnast Shawn Johnson all face cut-throat competition in the coming weeks as they bid to secure spots on the United States squad for the Beijing Olympics.

While Phelps is recognised as one of swimming's all-time greats and in many respects has already become the poster-boy for the Beijing Games, it accounts for little at the ruthless US Olympic trials with its "win and you're in" qualifying criteria.

Phelps has targeted Mark Spitz's Olympic record of seven gold medals at a single Games in Beijing but could see his quest end in an Omaha, Nebraska pool early next month where he will have to qualify for each and every event alongside other hopefuls.

Neither will there be free passes issued to Gay, the 100m and 200m world champion or Johnson, the reigning women's all-round champion, who like every other American athlete must book their Beijing ticket at their respective Olympic trials.

"It's a format that is unique and very straightforward," USOC spokesperson Darryl Seibel said. "It rewards athletes who are performing at their best and that is part of the reason that the trials are scheduled when they are.

"There is no doubt it helps prepare athletes for the Games having weathered the intensity and pressure of the trials.

Others will be crushed

"They go in (to Beijing), tested, prepared and confident."

The US Olympic qualifying set-up is unforgiving and over the next three weeks Olympic dreams will take flight while others will be crushed.

American swimmers, track and field athletes and gymnasts will all be counted on to make sizeable contributions to the US medal haul in Beijing.

Gymnasts will be first into the spotlight with their Olympic trials set for June 19-22 in Philadelphia followed by the track and field trials scheduled from June 27 to July 6 in Eugene, Oregon and the swim trials which will run almost simultaneously from June 29 to July 6 in Omaha.

Johnson and Nastia Liukin, both rated top contenders for the women's all-round title in Beijing, are expected to take their growing rivalry to Philadelphia where the top two finishers will earn automatic selection to the squad.

The rest of the six-member team plus three alternates will be selected at a July 20 training camp.

The men's competition is expected to be more wide open with reigning Olympic all-round champion Paul Hamm sidelined with a hand injury.

Olympic history

Despite a broken hand, Hamm still hopes to be fit enough to defend his gold medal in Beijing and has submitted a petition to be included in the US squad.

No American athlete, however, will face greater scrutiny over the next three weeks than Phelps as he bids to set the stage for Olympic history.

The winner of six gold and eight medals at the Athens Summer Games, Phelps has been coy about his programme for Beijing but all will be revealed during the eight-day meet in Omaha, where world records are expected to tumble.

After watching Australian and European swimmers rewrite the record book early in the year, American swimmers will hope to retake the spotlight and hold it through the Beijing Games.

In Eugene, Gay will headline the sprint-dominated US athletics trials but there will be plenty of subplots.

Competition will be particularly fierce in the 400m, the men's 400m hurdles and the men's shot put. Americans could sweep Beijing medals for those events if the favourites advance through the trials.

World 1 500 and 5 000m champion Bernard Lagat will bid for his first Games in a US vest after twice winning medals for native Kenya.

- Reuters