Shanghai Roundup: Lochte, Phelps Fired Up for Worlds; Germany First to Head to Shanghai

Yesterday was media day in the Gold Coast with the American World Championship Team. The two biggest nuggets were mined from the sport’s biggest star: Michael Phelps. Phelps said that he expects World Records to go down at this meet, which is sort of the standard expectation at this point. The more significant headline from swimming’s reigning king is that he admitted that he lost his motivation a lot over the past year or so, when he was beaten three times in the 200 butterfly (after going undefeated for nine years). But he says that the World Championships have refueled his fire. I think that this may have been the problem all along. With the 2010 “off year” (without a long course World Championship-type event) he  may have lost his interest a bit, but now that swimming’s back in the maintstream for the World Championships and leading up to the Olympics, he’s going to smell the blood in the water and prove what he’s got on a bigger stage…

“I needed to get out of that funk when I did because if I didn’t I think it would have been too late,” he said. “It’s funny, all you have to do is go to work out and work hard and everything shows up. That’s it; it’s that easy and to think I didn’t do it for really two years and I was wondering why I wasn’t swimming very fast, but that’s the answer.I  felt that you had to twist my arm to get me to go to the pool. I felt like I was kicking and screaming.” – Michael Phelps quote fromt he Sydney Morning Herald.

…His partner-in-crime Ryan Lochte, and their female counterpart Natalie Coughlin, both echoed Phelps’ sentiments that this would be a fast meet…

…Germany, led by Paul Biedermann, Britta Steffen, and the Deibler brothers, became the first of the major swim squads to head for their final destination in Shanghai today. While other athletes are attempting to acclimate to the Chinese time zone and climate in “similar” destinations, Germany has decided that they would be best served in the exact destination. While Singapore, where many teams are stationed, has a very similar climate to Shanghai, the Gold Coast, where Team USA is at, is roughly 25 degrees cooler. Remember that Australia is in its winter time right now, whereas China is in the summer. Hopefully, this doesn’t lead to any last-minute illnesses….

…In case you missed it, at 1 AM East Coast American time last night, Kazan, Russia and Guadalajara, Mexico were announced as the hosts of the 2015 and 2017 World Championships. Click here to read all about the two future hosts…

…Cesar Cielo received some support…sort of…from an unusual source today: Jessica Hardy. According to the USA Today, Hardy believes that it’s only right for Cielo to have an expedited hearing in front of the CAS and have the decision made before the World Championships. This is compared to her decision, where she had to voluntarily remove herself from the 2008 Olympic Team due to the cloud of controversey that surrounded her positive test at the US Olympic Trials. Though she said he deserves a fair trial, she stopped short of saying that she sided with the CBDA when they only handed out a warning: “The problem that surrounded him initially was that the Brazilian federation didn’t take the appropriate sanctions. At least CAS and FINA have stepped in and I’m grateful that that’s happening.”…

…More support…sort of…for Cielo came from FINA Executive Director Cornel Marculescu, who says that despite the controversey and appeal surrounding Cesar Cielo, that he and other FINA executives still “respect him very much” as “one of the greatest swimmers we have.” He also said that they will honor the decision of the CAS, regardless of the outcome, and indicated that they would move on after that decision without any agenda of ill-will towards the swimmer or the Brazilian Federation…

…The Shanghai organizing committee has revealed their plans for the massive aquatics complex that they have built for the World Championships. Some of the pools will be open to use by the public for a daily fee of about $3.10 (20 Yuan, to be exact). The main sports center, which was designed to be available for conversion for any number of athletic events, will be initially transformed to host the Grand Prix Figure Skating Cup of China in November. They are using the same theory that the US uses for their Olympic Trials, which is to host the event in a converted, multi-purpose arena, to ensure the economic viability of the center after the Championships, and still leave a phenomenal pool for use by its citizens…

…The first of the FINA World Championship disciplines will be the diving, which is scheduled to begin this Saturday in the outdoor pool. Organizers might ahve to shift this competition indoors, as there is slated to be a 60% chance of rain for Saturday in Shanghai…