The women’s 100m Breaststroke was won by who? Who ever heard of Ruta Meilutyte before now? I don’t think anyone had their money on her, because the experts said hot favourite Rebecca Soni had this one in the bag. Right? No, WRONG!
The experienced American had a dismal start, while the 15-year-old Lithuanian went flying off the blocks. Soni played catch-up throughout the race, gaining on every stroke but ran out of pool at the end. She touched the wall 0.08 seconds later than… what was her name again? Ruta, oh that’s it.
Take nothing away from Meilutyte. This was no fluke. She led Soni and the rest of the field three times over the past two days. Not just that, but the pressure of an Olympic final that included an extended wait behind the starting blocks as a result of a technical malfunction had no impact on her. That kid is good, she is Olympic champion, and what a surprise.
I was expecting the men’s 200m freestyle to be tight. Pre-race predictions said the race could have gone to any of the eventual top-five finishers. What wasn’t foreseen was that astonishing swim from Yannik Agnel. He was clearly in control of the race from the start, and that sizzling finish led to a whopping 1.79-second margin of victory.
He was about three metres clear of the second-place finisher. That was nowhere near as tight as I thought, and I did not see Lochte missing out on a medal either.
Those were not the first surprises of the games. We saw all-time great Michael Phelps miss out on a medal as well, as did the Australian men’s relay team who should have won.
World record holder Paul Biedermann of Germany missed the final of the 400m free entirely, while the women’s world record holder of the same event and 2011 world champion Federica Pelligrini managed no better than fifth, just to name a few.
And we are not even half way through the programme. As a result of those surprises we might want to readjust our initial predictions. I had Australian James Magnussen as a pretty safe bet for the 100m free, but after his performance in the relay and the form that Yannik Agnel and Nathan Adrian have shown so far, I am having second thoughts.
Is Soni still the top candidate for the 200m breaststroke? I need to think that over. You know what, this is just too difficult to predict. The only thing I am sure of right now is that there will be more surprises over the coming few days.
*Elhamawy is an ex-swimmer for Egypt’s acclaimed Gezira Club.
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