Tuesday, August 17, 2004
ANOTHER OLYMPIC UPDATE -- DANA KIRK
Once again, if you don't want to know how Dana Kirk did in her 200m butterfly semifinal swim around 10am, then hit "page down" a couple times and scroll past this post.
First, thanks to the CBC for airing this live. Dana Kirk has finished fourth in her 200m butterfly semifinal heat with a time of 2:10.69. Unfortunately, the cut time was 0.22 seconds faster. Dana was ninth out of the 16 semifinalist swimmers, with the top eight advancing to the finals. As for the race, Dana had a hold on second early, and third probably until there were 25m left, when Kaitlin Sandeno (USA) caught up to her first, followed by Paola Cavallino (ITA) about 5-10m before the finish.
In my best impersonation of an analysis of Tara's final race the other day, I said Tara went from third to sixth in the final 2-3m, then saying the finish was pretty "muddled," because everything happened pretty fast. According to David Nielsen in the Bremerton Sun, "[t]he difference between Tara Kirk earning a medal Monday and placing sixth was the length of a hand. The margin was less than the time it takes to blink an eye." Basically, my margin was somewhat correct, but my guess of 2-3m is a lot of hand lengths. I knew it was close, but obviously I didn't guess it was quite that close. Sorry I short-changed you there, Tara.
Again, great job by Tara and Dana Kirk in their Olympic journey. Also, Tara will swim for the USA 4x100 medley relay team in the preliminary race, but Amanda Beard will probably will take the breaststroke spot if the relay team advances, based on her finish in the 100m breaststroke final. Regardless, everyone who swims on the relay team -- be it in the preliminaries, semifinals, or finals -- gets medals. The USA women have gotten gold medals in this event in each of the last three Games. So, Tara could still get a medal out of this.
Bremerton -- the place where dreams are made. I never thought I'd say that.
First, thanks to the CBC for airing this live. Dana Kirk has finished fourth in her 200m butterfly semifinal heat with a time of 2:10.69. Unfortunately, the cut time was 0.22 seconds faster. Dana was ninth out of the 16 semifinalist swimmers, with the top eight advancing to the finals. As for the race, Dana had a hold on second early, and third probably until there were 25m left, when Kaitlin Sandeno (USA) caught up to her first, followed by Paola Cavallino (ITA) about 5-10m before the finish.
In my best impersonation of an analysis of Tara's final race the other day, I said Tara went from third to sixth in the final 2-3m, then saying the finish was pretty "muddled," because everything happened pretty fast. According to David Nielsen in the Bremerton Sun, "[t]he difference between Tara Kirk earning a medal Monday and placing sixth was the length of a hand. The margin was less than the time it takes to blink an eye." Basically, my margin was somewhat correct, but my guess of 2-3m is a lot of hand lengths. I knew it was close, but obviously I didn't guess it was quite that close. Sorry I short-changed you there, Tara.
Again, great job by Tara and Dana Kirk in their Olympic journey. Also, Tara will swim for the USA 4x100 medley relay team in the preliminary race, but Amanda Beard will probably will take the breaststroke spot if the relay team advances, based on her finish in the 100m breaststroke final. Regardless, everyone who swims on the relay team -- be it in the preliminaries, semifinals, or finals -- gets medals. The USA women have gotten gold medals in this event in each of the last three Games. So, Tara could still get a medal out of this.
Bremerton -- the place where dreams are made. I never thought I'd say that.
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