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.