Reflection on Rio2016

As the eyes of the world turn to the track to admire the performances of Bolt, Elaine Thompson, the Mo-bot, or even Jason Kenny behind that ‘derny’ bike; it gives us an opportunity to reflect on the week of swimming at Rio2016; and it leaves the Olympic swimmers to continue the best few weeks of their lives to enjoy Rio De Janiero and all it has to offer…

Party. Meet famous faces. See the city. Cheer on their team mates. Party again.

An opportunity for everyone to celebrate their success. They are Olympians and the very few at the pinnacle of their sport. Many will be overjoyed and reflecting on their dream-come-true performances, but others using the second half of their time in the Olympic village as an opportunity to forget the pain they feel after the disappointment of underachieving after four years of gruelling effort.

So how do we feel it went..?

Final day, final predictions

It is the last day of racing in the pool and we have another four finals to play out. With tired and weary bodies and minds, we will see who has managed the eight days of emotionally intense scrutiny the best.

Two ends of the individual event spectrum will be showcased today; whilst the women fight out the one length dash without breathing, the men will do battle over the longest event in the programme – hopefully pacing the 30 lengths to perfection.

Here are our final medal predictions for the Rio 2016 Games…

Day 7 finals – who do you fancy?

The penultimate day of racing in the pool at #Rio16 and some of the big stars are back out to play. Tonight sees Phelps, Ledecky and Hosszu aiming to extend their medal count and further imprint their legacy on the Games.

Short and sweet but here are our picks for Day 7…

Day 6 medal contenders

There are another four gold medals up for grabs for the athletes in Rio tonight. #SwimWords has currently predicted 80% of Gold medals over the first 5 days of competition and is hoping to continue in the same vein.

Here are our picks for Day 6 in the pool…

WOMEN’S 200 Breaststroke

SwimWords podium prediction:

	GOLD	SILVER	BRONZE
Women’s 200 Breaststroke	Efimova	McKeown	Kaneto

• If Efimova goes out a little faster to the half way mark, she could take the Gold. She has the fastest 100 speed in the field. Expect huge boo’s from the crowd if this was to happen.
• McKeown looked great in the semi-final and is the fastest seed. Just from her reaction after her swim, she thinks she has more.
• The fastest in the World this year, Kaneto has been a little of her best. She came through the field strongly in qualifying. She will have to commit earlier is she wants Gold.

Who will find glory on Day 5?

A very quick rundown of tonight’s medal predictions…

MEN’S 200 BREASTSTROKE

This is the tightest and arguably strongest field of any of the Olympic finals this week. Seven men separated by half a second, with the slowest man in the final posting 2.08.20 in 8^th. This is only 1.19 seconds away from the World Record. Try and find another final this week where the swimmer standing behind Lane 8 is as close to the WR! In the Men’s 200 freestyle it was 4.23 seconds and in the Men’s 200 butterfly the gap was 4.52 seconds. In the Women’s 200IM it was a range of 4.75 seconds going into the final. The closest was the Women’s 200 freestyle, which was set at 3.65 secs.

This only means it will be an incredibly close field and anyone can win it. Prenot has the fastest lifetime best. Watanabe broke the Olympic record in the semi-finals and Willis is the most experienced of all. The World Champion from 2015, Marco Koch, has a lane too but with reports of a shoulder injury he may not be as dangerous as previously thought. The German did however ask his Government for £1m Euro bonus if he wins gold, to replicate other sports with larger financial rewards. So don’t count him out just yet!

SwimWords podium prediction:

	GOLD	SILVER	BRONZE
Men’s 200 Breaststroke	Prenot	Watanabe	Willis

This is my house

A lesson was learnt. Never doubt a champion.

The scene was set last night as the World held their breath to watch the biggest names in our sport prove yet again why they draw the biggest of crowds. Crowds that include sporting stars such as Kevin Durant, Klay Thomson and Bubba Watson.

Katie Ledecky is a champion.

The definition of a champion is “…a person who has surpassed all rivals in a sporting contest”. In fact Ledecky has never been surpassed in any major final she has started. So why doubt her? An unforced error.

Day 4…it’s that time again!

After a number of tight final races on Day 3, tonight’s competition promises to be no different. This is hardly a surprise when you have multiple World Record holders all competing on the same evening.

#SwimWords has currently predicted 92% of Gold medallists after three days of competition, but with a couple of mouth-watering head-to-head rivalries, forecasts are not getting any easier.

WOMEN’S 200 FREESTYLE

Who will win the Women’s 200 freestyle?

If you asked this question two days ago, the prompt answer would have been Katie Ledecky. However, after the semi-finals unfolded last night, the tall Sarah Sjostrom put a large doubt in the minds of many. The Swede went head-to-head with Ledecky and smoothly proceeded to show her strength to beat a scrappy looking Ledecky in 1.54.65. It was the manner of the way Sjostrom was able to do this and the confidence she is obviously feeling after making history in the pool for her country. There is no doubt that Ledecky was trying, but does she have another gear..?

Both are have swum World Records this meet. Both have raised their game in finals. Both are undoubtedly on great form. Strap yourselves in for this one ladies and gents!

Podium predictions for Day 3

In contrast to previous showdowns, the finals on Day 3 look to be a much closer affair. This leads to a very exciting set of races, with dreams being separated by hundredths of a second. A tough ask to call the medal winners, but here at #SwimWords we will try our best!

Who wants it more…? Who has prepared the best…? Who put in the extra training session when no one else did…?

Where were you?

Where were you?

Where were you when Beamon jumped 8.90m? When Jonathan Edwards jumped 18.29m? When Bolt went 9.58 in Berlin, when Michael Johnson ran 43.18 for one lap of the track, or when Radcliffe never faded to 2:15.25 in 2003?

Where were you when Adam Peaty swam 57.13 for 100m Breaststroke?

Unfortunately, for the majority of the British public, they were in bed asleep. Those who weren’t were curled up on the sofa counting down the minutes of sleep they were losing before they had to be up for work. Some though were very fortunate to be in the 15,000 capacity crowd in the Rio De Janeiro Olympic pool. What they witnessed was simply stunning.