U.S. Olympic Swimming Team: Roster Announced For London 2012

After eight days in Omaha, the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Swimming reached its conclusion Monday night, and with it came the official roster announcement from USA Swimming.

The men’s side is led, obviously, by Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte. Phelps, a 16-time medalist, will compete in four individual events in London (200m IM, 400m IM, 100m fly and 200m fly), the same number as Lochte (200m back, 200m IM, 400m IM and 200m free). The rivals could face each other in two finals, while also competing together on the relay teams.

The longest deciding race of the entire U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials took place Monday night, when eight men hit the pool for the men’s 1500-meter freestyle. Andrew Gemmell prevailed, and punched his ticket to London.

Gemmell finished swimming’s equivalent of a marathon in 14:52.19, just .32 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Connor Jaeger, and both men earned spots on the 2012 London Olympic team for their efforts.

Monday night, youth was served in the fastest event in women’s swimming. Jessica Hardy, 25, took first in the women’s 50-meter freestyle at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials in Omaha, in a time of 24.50 seconds.

Hardy was followed by Kara Lynn Joyce, who finished second at 24.73 seconds, and also qualified for the U.S. Olympic team in the event.

Monday’s news that MIchael Phelps would be swimming seven events at the 2012 Summer Olympics -- choosing to drop the 200-meter free in favor of focusing on the Team USA relays -- came a surprise to some. After all, he won the event at the trials just a few days ago in Omaha. But perhaps no one was more shocked by the tweet from Bob Bowman, Phelps’ coach, than Ricky Berens:

Yes, much like the ancient Greeks first envisioned, an athlete learned he was headed to the Olympics on Twitter.

Michael Phelps won four events during the 2012 U.S. Olympic team trials in Omaha, Neb. over the past week and will be competing in seven different events in London. Phelps could have taken part in eight events in the London Games, but according to his coach Bob Bowman, Phelps will be dropping the 200m free, an event which Phelps won.

Bowman indicated that dropping the men’s 200m free from Phelps’ program will allow him to focus more of his energy for the Team USA relay races. Phelps is eligible to compete in the men’s 100m fly, 200m fly, 200m IM, 400m IM, 200m freestyle, and all three relay events.

With his participation in the 2012 U.S. Swimming Trials finished, Michael Phelps is eligible to participate in eight events -- five individual races and three relays -- the same program that won him a record-setting eight golds in Beijing in 2008.

But Phelps is four years older, and the 2012 Olympics will be his last international competition. Will he be choose to undergo the arduous task of participating in all eight events at this stage in his career, or focus on winning the races he has the best chances of winning? Phelps and his coach, Bob Bowman are leaving it open-ended:

The 2012 U.S. Olympic swimming trials come to a conclusion on Monday with only two events left to be settled, and they couldn’t possibly be more different. Things get started with the women’s 50-meter freestyle, and the night closes with a long-distance challenge, the men’s 1500 free.

Dara Torres is in the mix in the 50 free, having recorded the third-fastest time in the semifinals. Jessica Hardy leads the pack into the finals following a 24.56 50 on Saturday. Christine Magnuson was second-fastest with a time of 24.72.

2008 Olympic relay hero Cullen Jones continued his strong showing in the Trials with a narrow win in the men’s 50 meter freestyle.

Jones finished with a time of 21.59, only .01 faster than second-place Anthony Ervin, a gold medalist from the Sydney Olympics. Ervin, a colorful character with arm-sleeve tattoos, left the sport for nearly a decade before returning for one final attempt in 2012. He auctioned off his last gold to raise money for the survivors of the Asian tsunami in 2004.

Kathleen Ledecky, a 15-year old from the Northern Virginia area, wasted no time making a name for herself in her first Olympic Trials, as she easily won the women’s 800 meter freestyle to qualify for the Olympics.

Ledecky got out to an extremely fast start and never looked back. She led the race almost the entire way, finishing with a time of 8:19.78.

Missy Franklin will have a chance to become the first woman to win seven medals at an Olympic games in swimming, though it was a foregone conclusion that she would qualify for seven events coming into Sunday night. The 200 meter backstroke is her self-described favorite event, and she won in very comfortable fashion. She did not appear to be going as hard as she could, and still won in 2:06.12.

Elizabeth Beisel will be joining her at the Olympics after she turned in a time of 2:07.58 in a second-place finish. Elizabeth Pelton put in an impressive effort, but came up just short in third place and will miss out on qualifying for the Olympics.

The first six days have been full of action at the 2012 U.S. Olympic swimming trials, and Day 7 figures to be more of the same. Sunday’s schedule includes four finals and one semifinal.

One of the main events Sunday is the women’s 200-meter backstroke final. The race will feature Missy Franklin,who holds the American record for the event and qualified first in the preliminaries. Elizabeth Beisel who finished fifth in the 2008 Olympics in the 200-meter backstroke will also compete Sunday.

We mentioned earlier that Ryan Lochte was scheduled to swim in three events Saturday night at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Swimming, and he actually followed through with it (some thought he’d scratch an event). So how did he do?

A pretty good night for Lochte! But of course, that doesn’t tell the whole story.

On his 27th birthday, Michael Phelps won his semifinal and turned in the fastest time in the men’s 100-meter butterfly at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Swimming Saturday night in Omaha, Neb. Phelps touched the wall in 51.35 seconds, which is the fastest time in the world so far in 2012.

Phelps will lead the field into the finals of the event, scheduled for Sunday night. Tyler McGill turned in the second-fastest qualifying time (51.88), followed by Tom Shields (51.89). Ryan Lochte, swimming in the first semifinal, finished third and is tied with Eugene Godsoe for sixth heading to the finals (52.47). For Lochte, it was his third race in a span of about 58 minutes Saturday night, and he was absolutely exhausted.

Jessica Hardy has won the women’s 100 meter freestyle final with a personal record time and will make the Olympics, followed closely in second place by Missy Franklin. Just 19 minutes after swimming a semifinal in the 200 meter backstroke, Franklin put together an impressive swim, closing from seventh place to finish second in the race.

The top six finishers in the race all head to the Olympics to compete in relays. Natalie Coughlin, who was attempting to qualify for her third Olympic games, barely nabbed sixth place to qualify. Allison Schmidt finished third, Lia Neal finished fourth, and Amanda Weir finished in fifth place to make the team. All six qualifiers were within half of a second of each other.

The biggest rivalry in swimming was renewed Saturday night in Omaha at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials when Michael Phelps edged Ryan Lochte in the men’s 200-meter IM finals, finishing just 0.09 seconds ahead of his toughest competition.

Phelps touched the wall in 1:54.84, Lochte in 1:54.93. They were both more than four seconds ahead of the third-place finisher.

To the surprise of no one, Ryan Lochte and Tyler Clary have smoked the field in the 200 meter backstroke to qualify for the event at the 2012 Olympics. Both were already Olympians and pulled away from their competitors easily in the final 50 meters of the race.

Lochte won the race in 1:54.54, followed by Clary in 1:54.88. Both were more than two seconds ahead of their nearest competitors.

Rebecca Soni turned in a dominant performance in the women’s 200 meter breaststroke final, winning the race by nearly two seconds, qualifying for the Olympics in the event. She was already an Olympian on the back of her performance in the 100 meter breaststroke, but will attempt to capture multiple medals at multiple distances.

Coming in second place with a personal best was Micah Lawrence, who heads to her first Olympics. Her recent rise has been a slight surprise, as she struggled at the NCAA level last year. Failing to qualify was 30-year-old Amanda Beard, who was attempting to make her fifth consecutive Olympic team. She finished in fifth place, just over five seconds behind Soni and a little more than three seconds behind Lawrence.

Day 6 of the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials will take place on Saturday in Omaha. Ryan Lochte will once again show what a workhorse he is as he continues chasing down Michael Phelps in an attempt to become the new top dog in American swimming.

According to Nicole Auerbach, Lochte has not been scratched from Saturday’s 100 meter fly semifinal heat. This means that Lochte will be swimming in three different events during Saturday’s Olympic trials. He will also compete in the final of the men’s 200 backstroke and will go head-to-head with Michael Phelps once again in the final of the men’s 200-meter individual medley.

As the 2012 U.S. Olympic swimming trials head into Day 6, the events will be highlighted by the men’s 200-meter individual medley as Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps once again battle head-to-head for first place. But can anyone challenge for one of the top two positions and pull off the upset?

The following finals and semifinals will take place on Saturday night:

During the 2012 Olympic swimming trials Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps have been battling back and forth in the various events and that was no different in the men’s 200m individual medley semifinals. Lochte and Phelps put on a clinic in the event, leaving everyone else behind in their wake.

The two american’s battled head to head with Lochte taking a short lead over Phelps in the final stretch of the event in the free style stroke, with Lochte and Phelps a good two seconds ahead of everyone else in the heat.

In a loaded finals field, Nathan Adrian emerged as the winner in the men’s 100-meter freestyle at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Swimming in Omaha, Neb. Friday night. It was a tightly contested race, with the top-seven all finishing within 0.82 seconds of each other.

Cullen Jones took second, while Matt Grevers came in third.

The 2012 Olympic trials continue on Day 5 with the women’s 200m fly finals. Kathleen Hersey was trying to follow up her 2011 women’s 200m fly championship with a spot on the U.S. women’s 2012 Olympic team. Hersey took the early lead in the fly after the first 50m turn, and maintained it through the half way point.

Cammille Adams was right on Hersey’s tail after the final 150m turn, and overtook Hersey in the final stretch and began to separate herself as the clear winner in the 200m fly, clocking in her personal best time with 2:06.52. Hersey finished up in second place with a time of 2:07.72 joining Hersey in making the women’s 200m team.

On the fifth day of swimming trials for the 2012 Olympics the U.S.A. men’s swimming team finalized who would represent America in the 200m men’s breast. Eric Shanteau was a big sleeper in the event, finishing in second place in the men’s 100m right behind Brendan Hansen.

Hansen took the early lead on the first turn with Clark Burckle and Shanteau right behind him. As the race continued to the first 100m turn, Burckle over took Hansen with Shanteau maintaining third place heading to the 150m turn.

There will be three more finals on Day 5 of the U.S. Olympic swimming trials on Friday night. Competitors from all over the nation will continue their attempts to secure spots on the U.S. Olympic team at the Summer Games in London.

Friday’s three finals include the men’s 200-meter breaststroke and 100-meter freestyle, and the women’s 200-meter fly.

Caitlin Leverenz is showing off her abilities as a well-rounded swimmer this week.

On Thursday, the 21-year-old UC - Berkley swimmer won the 200m individual medley with a time of 2:10.22.