Malchow Injures Knee, But Will Swim at Pan Pacs
YOKOHAMA, Japan, August 23. IT was deja vu all over again. Well…almost.
American swimmers seem to have a problem with their knees and Japanese swimming pools. Last year at the World Championships in Fukuoka, Lindsay Benko shattered her kneecap in a freak accident during training. Today Olympic 200 meter butterfly champion Tom Malchow hurt his knee in a freak accident. Fortunately, the accident was only minor and Malchow was given the okay to swim in the Pac Pacific Championships, which begin tomorrow.
Malchow was taken to hospital for a check-up after twisting his knee during stretching exercises in Yokohama, U.S. team officials said.
"His knee just locked up while he was stretching but it's nothing major. He'll still be swimming all his events. He went to the hospital as a precaution," said Mary Wagner, USA Swimming communications director.
Malchow has been looking forward to a rematch with his 17 year-old teammate, Michael Phelps, the world champion and world record-holder in the 200 meter butterfly.