Caputred by D’Artagnan Dias.
Produced by Coleman Hodges.
Reported by Mel Stewart.
The most dominant swim of Olympic night four was a classic. Conor Dwyer, Townley Haas, Ryan Lochte, andMichael Phelps teamed up to win the men’s 4×200 free relay by over 2 seconds. The relay’s 0.59% dominance margin was roughly equal to the combined margins of victory in all three of the night’s individual events.
This relay was a classic because of the last two legs: Lochte and Phelps have been staples on every Olympic 4×200 going back to 2004. However, this time they were supporting players. The new relay hero was Townley Haas. His 1:44.14 relay split gave the USA a lead that it never relinquished. The only other relay split under 1:45 was Great Britain’s James Guy at 1:44.85, or 0.64% slower than Haas.
In the stands at USA trials, as soon as Conger was touched out for 2nd place in the 200 Free, there was a collective sigh, “Conger, snakebit on touches through his whole career”. Schooling at NCAAs! These guys at OT! Shields in the fly! Until he breaks the curse (he undoubtedly will at some point), he will have to be satisfied with second fiddle status. I think I’ve read enough lamentations on this site that Conger should have been on that podium, though.
Townley would have been screwed without Dwyer next to him in the conference. Can’t imagine what his answer would have been to the doping question.
Ok, we’re claiming Townley as a San Francisco Giants fan.
Well, his real name is Francis, so that fits.
Dwyer is quite articulate. Nice job.
Townley Haas is a man of few words. He let’s his swimming do the talking! 😉
Congrat’s to these guys, they really represented US Swimming well in Rio! I’m still upset that Jack Conger isn’t doing this press conference with them, but I guess I’ll get over it eventually…
Agreed. Conger should have been on that relay. Faster than Lochte in the morning and Bowman just wants to pad his resume with more gold for MP.
totally agree too – Conger deserved a spot on that awesome relay . He will have that spot next year without a doubt – little bit more patience .
Getting a relay spot at trials gets you to the Olympics and for the first time guarantees you at least a swim – it never guaranteed a finals swim. That has always been at the coaches discretion. Most swimmers would kill to be an Olympian. So if he wanted that finals swim he should have stepped up at trials. But maybe this will make Conger hungrier and he too can get to a point in his career where the coaches know what they are getting and can always count on him ala Lochte and Phelps. He has to prove himself time and time again. Until then he’ll have to settle for the prelims – that’s of his own making.