Buffalo Boy's Blog

Michael Phelps won what is probably the toughest of the eight medals he wants at this Olympics. The 400 IM is not his favorite race though I don't know many swimmers who "like" to swim it, they just deal with it do it.

Michael Phelps got the first gold out of the way with the 400 IM which is 100 meters of each of the four strokes (butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle). He did it in world record time too...4:03.84.

After the 400 IM Phelps has nothing longer than a 200 and he also has three relays so he can relax knowing the first is in the bag and his toughest race is done. A relaxed Michael Phelps? That means trouble for anyone thinking they can challenge him, hes going to be good, and to quote a local hockey guy, scary good the rest of the way. He really is the only one who can lose the rest of his individual races.

In other swimming things, Dara Torres went a :52.4 in the 100 free as the anchor on the womens 4X100 meter relay. Rowdy Gaines mentioned that her anchor split might be one of if not the fastest relay split ever. She still has the 50 meter freestyle and has to be the favorite to win that event after watching her swim last night.

Katie Hoff's finals swim in the 400 IM was a little disappointing but when you consider the two that finished ahead of her Stephanie Rice and Kirsty Coventry both were the first two ever to go under 4:30. Katie swam well, just not mind boggling well. She'll win some gold, it just wasn't meant to be last night.