Thorpey

[Steve]

Take a look at the following picture:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/38163000/jpg/_38163475_thorpe150.jpg

Obvisouly he's not shaved down, but he doesn't look in peak physical condition does he (that's a relative comment obviously!)? Maybe it's just the picture. Also the beeb don't say where it was taken or how long ago, so it probably is not a good guide to anything :)

Of course if you believe the media hype, the shape he's in is irrelevant, he'd win 7 golds with one arm behind his back and a victorian woollen swimsuit. :rolleyes:

[BigFish]

I'm kinda hoping Hackett will give him a run for his money tomorrow. I'd love to see him win actually!

[violet]

he bulked up, apparently.

[mammamedley]

do you still shave with a full body suit?

[Bazza]

Originally posted by mammamedley
do you still shave with a full body suit?

Yes. Also today the commentators suggested that Ian thopre weighs in at around 16st or 105kg. That seems quite alot to me, but he looked in great form and we could see an amazing final tonight.

Also just like to mention how good it is to see the amount of coverage swimming is getting on the beeb!:D

[Steve]

Yes it's good that it's on telly a lot(I'm sure we say this every Olympics and Commonwealths...;)) shame next year's worlds won't receive any attention at all :rolleyes:...well maybe 15 minutes on grandstand, delayed becasue of an overrun in the inercounty over 65 tiddlywinks final :eek:

And more to the point why is it that the usually excellent BBC sport on-line are so rubbish at reporting on swimming? They don't know the difference between short and long course, often get names wrong (Dave Mewer anyone?), and today topped it all by saying "England's trio of Jo Mullins, Holly Fox and Kathryn Evans also made it through to the 200 IM final" (or words to that effect) when a quick look at the results on the BBC site reveals that they finished 9th,10th and 11th) sort it out! :mad:

[Steve]

Ahh well they've updated it now. Better late than never (as I always say when I'm racing 800m :D )

but the other clanger is still there:

Sarah Price briefly held the world record in the 200m backstroke, James Hickman looks a strong bet in the 200m butterfly, Dave Mewer is a potential gold medallist as is James Gibson.

at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport3/commonwealthgames2002/hi/swimming/newsid_2006000/2006961.stm

[Meiri]

Shaven or not shaven - he is a great swimmer! and shaving makes a difference, but not that big when you use a body suit.
And i don't think that 105kg is that much for a guy as tall as him, and don't forget that muscels weight more than fat does...

[landlubber]

Originally posted by Meiri
And i don't think that 105kg is that much for a guy as tall as him, and don't forget that muscels weight more than fat does...

How tall is he? The rule of thumb that I remember is that your weight (mass?) in kg should not be greater than your height in cm minus 100. Therefore, Thorpey should be 205 cm tall. Of course, that only applies to mere mortals and given his results tonight, I don't think we can accuse him of eating all the pies. :D

[Steve]

He's about 6'6" (1m95);

Another way of checking height v weight is body mass index (weight in kg/height in m squared) which should be between about 18 and 25:

Underweight = <18.5
Normal weight = 18.5-24.9
Overweight = 25-29.9
Obesity = BMI of 30 or greater

Thorpes is 105/1.95^2 = 27.6 so theoretically he's overweight for his height. However I would suggest that his body fat percentage would be down around 3% so you can't really use the ordinary persons scale!

[Chris]

I continue to be amazed at this guy. He appears to be such a genuine bloke. He does a pretty good interview. He was absolutely awesome in the 400 free final this evening.

His stroke is so economical. Virtually effortless. Swims along with Grant Hackett 5 metres ahead of everyone else, and then just flicks up a gear and he's gone. Another World Record as well ....

WOW!!!

[Unfit]

he's got such a lazy, front quadrant stoke with virtually no kick for the majority of the race. he looks like he's doing a swim down not a race!!

[Bazza]

Some great shots of his stroke which no doubt any swimmer would have loved seeing and can appreciate the quality.

Another error from the BBC this morning, they paired an interview with James Gibson with a caption saying "Darren Mew"!:rolleyes:

[Steve]

Yes, and poor old Steve Parry has been renamed after Aussie Golfer Craig on BBC sport online :rolleyes:

However they're still better than the ASA, who can't spell "world":

GOLD AND WORLED RECORD FOR GAMES

Not that I can talk given my typing prowess... :eek:

As for Thorpe, the underwater shots were fantastic. IMHO what is so good is how high he is able to keep his elbow thoughout the pull phase of his stroke. His butterfly kick of the turn in the 4x100 relay was phenomenal as well.

[Katie]

Did anyone else hear the BBC going on about "16 year old Zoe Baker defending her World Record tonight"?!! I thought that was quite an interesting one! And also there's a lot of talk about Georgina Holderness, who is actually Georgia Holderness... a mistake more easily made than 16 year old Zoe Baker I think! :)

[Bazza]

Amusing as it is to all of us (though maybe not to those involved) at least awareness of swimming is on the rise ( if only for a week!), or does it show how ignorant people are to our beloved siwmming?

[BigFish]

There have been a whole load of errors on the BBC. Surprisingly, Sharron, Andy, and Adrian have made loads too! But, as at Sydney, they all seem to get better as the meet rolls on. My solution, therefore, is for the BBC to have the 3 of them commentating at many more swim meets throughout the year so they can all become more familiar with contempory swimming trivia (call it a warm up, if you like). Yeah okay, so that'll never happen.

Was anyone else stuck at work Tuesday morning, watching the results come in on the commonwealth games website? Am I the only person to be absolutely horrified that the first bunch of results to be displayed showed:
- name
- placing
- split times
Spot the missing item? That's right, initially as the results were posted on the website, they completely forgot the finish time! Ah well, they got it sorted eventually.