British swimming star James Guy came away from Rio, his debut Olympics, with two relay medals, but he wants an individual podium position, and that’s what this quad, 2017-2020, is all about. Team GB traveled to the U.S., to the Indy Pro Swim, to fight Team USA talent, and it is all a part of their strategy toward success in 2020.
James’ post Olympic slump, the fall after The Games, was a little depressing. He was unhappy with his performance in Rio. After winning 200 free at 2015 World Championships, James described it as a bit of a disaster, but he loved the experience and the new friendships he made.
Next up for Team GB is World Championship Trials in April, where James is ready to redeem himself. Look for James to drop a fast 200 and 400 free in Budapest. And on that note, what do you think James Guy can go in the final of the 200 free and 400 free at Worlds? I think he’s ready, ripe for a 1:44 low 200m free and a 3:42 400m free. But who cares what I think. It’s all about what you think. Share your predictions in the comments.
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This is a Gold Medal Media production presented by SwimOutlet.com. Host Gold Medal Mel Stewart is a 3-time Olympic medalist and the co-founder of SwimSwam.com, a Swimming News website.
This was the first time I actually saw an interview of James guy, and to me he seems like a really hard working, dedicated, and humble dude. He seems like he is really focused and loves the sport and I love watching athletes with that mental outlook
1.44mid 200 free, no progress in the 400 free. He’s coming back from a long break, much like SMOC, and speed is easier to find than endurance.
Love that you guys get to interview international athletes when they travel to the States!
Swimming is a global language. From Australia to Austria, everyone reads about everybody else. We see that more and more on SwimSwam. I love it. It’s why we produce original reports in 4 languages. We’re increasing that to 5 languages this fall.
Ahem. We’re already in 5 languages. English, French, German, Hindi, and Spanish.
I stand corrected….again. 🙂
200free 1.45low
400free 3.44
100fly 51.8
200fly 1.54.5
I think with the emergence of Duncan Scott if James Guy can finish the season been GB’s best 200freestyler he’ll be lucky. Hopefully both push each other to 1.44 (Scott was 1.45.0 on relay)
They are both doing 100/200fly which will be Interesting. James has spoken about increasing his aerobic base, he’d be stupid to focus on speed and power, Lochte and Dwyer both focused on big aerobic work in London and Rio (been 28 and 27 respectively) Guy is only 22 this year and in December I think so still 21, he’ll get stronger just by growing older each day.
I think he can go 1.53… Read more »
Nice job, as usual.
Question for Melvin: when you get together with Rowdy Gaines, does the subject come up of how derisive most SwimSwam commenters are when they discuss Rowdy’s broadcasting abilities and his general befuddlement when he is on the air? Or is Rowdy not a SwimSwam reader?
A good example is the women’s 200 free at the recent NCAAs in which Louisville’s Mallory Comerford tied Katie Ledecky. Anyone following the meet could see that Comerford was having a great meet; but Gaines seems like he had done no race prep at all and was totally surprised by the outcome.
SwimSwam readers can provide many other examples.
Mel: keep up the good work.
great question !!
Sounds like someones been reading a lot of NotSwimSwam on twitter…
I think I heard Mel once doing a swim broadcast…loved it!
2010 PanPacs – He was amazing for that meet . Stil available on yutube
I see your point. You can only take so much “breathing to his right” to wonder about lack of prep. Really like the Australian duo Nicole Livingstone and Bruce McAvaney better.
Rowdy’s servicing network TV or the biggest sports cable channel on earth, and they want him to appeal to as broad an audience as possible. Rowdy knowledge of the sport is deeper than what he reflects from his time in the chair, but his producer determines much of his announcing. A part of Rowdy’s reaction to swims like Comerford’s v Ledecky is for dramatic effect, for the non-swimmer, or, what we call, low-information fan.
Swim coverage and attendance at elite meets–those are very big concerns for the sport going forward. I think our historic growth in the sport may slow with so many options for kids (and parents) — gaming, action sports, all other traditional sports. Also, the next… Read more »
@Melvin Thoughful reply. One obvious place for innovation in TV coverage is the post-race interview. This seems to take place 30 seconds after the winner has gotten out of the water, and he or she is usually totally gassed. This usually leads to very simple (and often banal) questions from the poolside announcer and semi-coherent answers from the winner. It would be good to wait a small measure of time for the winner compose him/her-self and articulate his/her thoughts. For example, most of your “Swim Outlet” pieces are not done 30 seconds after the swimmer has jumped out of the pool — of course, you’ve got the ability to edit these (I bet something similar could be done in a… Read more »
Sorry…. Yes, Rowdy reads. Rowdy works with a lot of events around the country, many we promote, and he’s quick to provide quotes and info. I think Rowdy’s favorite go-to was the blog cap n goggles via casey barrett, a long time friend of his, thought Casey has not posted since Aug 2016. For event coverage, Rowdy relies on USAswimming’s in-house stats team as well for data. I don’t know if he dives into SwimSwam a lot. I think he does. In the media room at meets, most computers are open on our page. That’s pretty obvious walking through glancing over the computer screens all day during competition. Also, it should be noted that when you call your Olympic peers… Read more »
So you’re saying his commentary and all his yelling is just a performance directed by his producer.
And the producer wants to “dumb it down” for the supposed average viewer.
You can “dumb it down” without sounding incoherent. I often watch the races he comments on with the sound off. That’s how useless and distracting Rowdy’s commentary can be.
Jeez, this is an awesome reply.
IMHO he is a 200 swimmer so I think he can go for a 1.44 mid-low, in the 400 he won’t drop 1 second from his best performance.
I’ll say gold in the 200, out of podium in the 400 or bronze at best.
….. “not” dropping in the 400 free the post Olympic year makes sense, if he’s backing off background. Most swimmers strive for more power/speed and shorter events as they get older. If he does the reverse and steps up his 400 free, that’ll say a lot about where his head’s at.
Very difficult he steps up in the 400, especially if he is trying to improve his 100 fly and 200 free.
If I remember right, the only man to ever win medal in both 100 and 400 in the same championship/Olympics is Ian Thorpe (excluding the IM which is a odd race).
It is even possible he won’t make the 400 free at all..
James guy is such a guy.
….he went fishing to get over his Olympic blues….that is guy-ish. Makes me like him more. 4th in the 2-free is exceptional at the Games, but 4th at the Olympics is a tough spot. Bronze is the happiest medal. Bronze is I GOT ON THE PODIUM. Silver is I COULD’VE WON. Gold is……..well, it’s gold, the medal you sleep with for a few weeks (under your pillow) to help you understand it’s real, that you actually won.
And after sleeping with it under the pillow a few weeks, apparently (I sure wouldn’t know) name yourself after it.