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With less than three weeks until the Tokyo Olympic Games, two of Australia’s 100 freestyle gold medal frontrunners Emma McKeon and Kyle Chalmers have dropped the 200 freestyle from their programs in order to reduce the workload on their already busy schedules. Both swimmers are gold medal favorites in the 100 free and will play a role in many of Australia’s relays.
Read the five biggest stories of the week in The Week That Was sponsored by Suitmate.
The Week That Was #1: Chalmers, McKeon Drop 200 Free From Olympic Program
Photo Courtesy: Becca Wyant
Rackley rookies Thomas Neill and Isaac Cooper, experienced campaigners Madi Wilson and Cam McEvoy and former world record holder Matthew Wilson have been rewarded with individual swims for Australia at this month’s Tokyo Olympics.
All were selected as relay swimmers – Neill on the 4x200m, Cooper, the 4x100m medley, Wilson the 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle and McEvoy the 4x100m freestyle. But with the official entries lodged with Tokyo 2020 today, the withdrawal of “top guns” Emma McKeon and Kyle Chalmers from their respective individual 200m events, with Matthew Temple also withdrawing from the 100m freestyle.
McKeon was second to Ariarne Titmus at the Australian Trials with Wilson third – but with McKeon also qualifying for the 50 and 100m freestyles and 100m butterfly, as well as all four relays, her coach Michael Bohl has withdrawn his all-around star from the grueling 200 freestyle.
Likewise with Chalmers, who will go head-to-head with Caeleb Dressel as he attempts to become the first Australian male to defend the blue ribband 100m freestyle crown, and will be a key factor in Australia’s relay assaults. In comes Thomas Neill, who turns 19 on Saturday, an early birthday present for one of Australia’s rising freestyle stars who also gets a real bonus when he joins Jack McLoughlin as Australia’s second 1500m freestyler.
#2: NCAA Approves Name, Image, Likeness Laws to Allow Athletes to be Compensated
Photo Courtesy: NCAA Media
College athletics will never be the same. The NCAA Board of Directors approved a groundbreaking change to the world of sports that will allow nearly a half-million athletes to start earning money based on their fame and celebrity without fear of endangering their eligibility.
It is a complete shakeup to the NCAA and was expected after states continued to pass their own laws to allow athletes to be compensated. It is a decision a long time coming with how much money athletes bring to their schools on a national stage, especially in sports like football and basketball. But with so many Olympians a part of NCAA sports like swimming and diving and water polo, things are going to change in the world of aquatics as well.
The Week That Was #3: Eddie Reese Reverses on Retirement – Will Return as Texas Head Coach
Photo Courtesy: Taylor Brien
After rumors began circulating Thursday on Twitter that legendary University of Texas men’s coach Eddie Reese would be changing his plans and not be retiring, the school confirmed the news Friday with a tweet posted to the team’s official account. The tweet contained a brief statement from Reese, which read: “There’s more that I want to do for this current team. We have a great group of guys in our program. They have a great future in the sport, and I want to help them be as good as they can be.”
Texas separately confirmed the news that Reese will remain head coach for the 2021-2022 season, which will be his 44th as the Longhorns’ head coach. Wyatt Collins, Reese’s assistant for the past five seasons (including three championship-winning campaigns), will remain the assistant coach at Texas. The school will be seeking back-to-back national championships after earning a 27-point victory over California in March. Texas won the championship despite winning no individual swimming events at the meet and just two events overall, the 800 free relay and 1-meter diving.
Reese announced his retirement in March, just two days after leading the team to its 15th national championship. Reese announced then that he would move into the head coach emetitus role, where he would continue to assist on deck at practice but not be responsible for the entire program. There had been no indication that Reese was reconsidering his plans prior to Thursday, when athletic director Chris Del Conte and school president Jay Hartzell began corresponding on Twitter that they had rejected his retirement paperwork and he would be back on deck.
#4: USA Swimming Names Dressel, Manuel, Murphy, Schmitt as Captains For Tokyo Olympic Team
Photo Courtesy: Andy Ringgold / Aringo Photos
USA Swimming has announced its national team captains for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics. Caeleb Dressel, Simone Manuel, Ryan Murphy and Allison Schmitt were selected as the team captains.
The announcement was made on social media in a video where fellow Olympian Hunter Armstrong used card tricks to show the captains.
All four captains are two-time Olympians with the exception of Schmitt, who made the team for the fourth time. All four have won gold medals.
The Week That Was #5: City of Fort Lauderdale Hosts Topping Ceremony For 27m Diving Tower
Photo Courtesy: Andy Ross
On Thursday, the City of Fort Lauderdale hosted the topping out ceremony to celebrate the last piece of steel being erected for the permanent 27m diving tower as part of the ongoing International Swimming Hall of Fame Aquatic Complex construction.
The permanent high diving tower will be the first in the western hemisphere and just the second in the entire world, with the other being in Zhaoqing, China. In May of 2019, the city of Fort Lauderdale was in the early stages of evaluating the construction of an iconic High Diving Tower, and in July 2020 the city commissioners voted to fully fund the 27-meter dive tower and an Observation Deck.
“Special thanks need to go out to Mayor Dean Trantalis and City Manager Chris Logerbloom for their vision and Bruce Wigo for championing this possibility. A big “Thank You” to Vice Mayor Heather Moraitis, Commissioners Steve Glassman, Ben Sorrenson, and Robert Mckinzie for their support.
“The City Parks and Recreation department led by Phil Thornberg should be proud of this accomplishment along with Laura Voet and Hansel Phelps who oversaw this construction. This is a special day for the diving community worldwide and will truly reinforce Fort Lauderdale as THE international destination for diving and aquatic sports.” – Brent Rutemiller President and CEO of the International Swimming Hall of Fame, who was not present due to his ongoing battle with plasma cell leukemia.
I don’t think Matthew Wilson was necessarily selected as a relay swimmer .. I think they used the “extenuating circumstances” clause to allow him to swim the 200m breastroke outright and of course that would also help as backup in relay.