SwimSwam Pulse is a recurring feature tracking and analyzing the results of our periodic A3 Performance Polls. You can cast your vote in our newest poll on the SwimSwam homepage, about halfway down the page on the right side, or you can find the poll embedded at the bottom of this post.
Our most recent poll asked SwimSwam readers whom they believe Team USA should have selected to swim the 4×200 free relay:
RESULTS
Question: Who should the U.S. have used on the men’s 4×200 free relay?
- Phelps & Lochte – 22.3%
- Lochte & Conger – 9.9%
- Phelps & Conger – 67.8%
Before Ryan Lochte and Jack Conger became the headlines of the now-infamous gas station bathroom incident, they were both a part of one of the bigger personnel controversies of swimming in Rio.
Team USA had to select 4 swimmers to compete in the 4×200 free relay final. Conor Dwyer and Townley Haas were all but locks after going 1-2 at Trials and swimming the 200 free individually in Rio and performing well.
Based on Olympic Trials results, Clark Smith and Gunnar Bentz were set to swim on the relay in prelims, with Jack Conger and Ryan Lochte qualified as the last two finals swimmers.
But then there’s Michael Phelps, the greatest swimmer of all-time, who was undeniably swimming a whole level above where he was at Trials. Phelps was added to the 4×100 free relay without swimming the event at Trials and swam outstandingly well, helping Team USA reclaim gold for the first time since 2008.
That left Phelps, Lochte and Conger fighting for 2 spots, with Lochte and Conger essentially swimming off for position in prelims.
Trials Orders and Relay Exchanges
More than two thirds of SwimSwam voters suggested Phelps and Conger should have gotten the two spots. Phelps is understandable: the most decorated Olympian in history was already red-hot in Rio, and it’s hard to keep that off a relay.
But voters (and many of those in our comment section) supported Conger over Lochte, which is an interesting take based on prelims results.
In prelims, Lochte split 1:45.80, Conger 1:45.73 – but factoring out relay reaction times (which is very commonly done in prelim relay ‘swim-offs’ to keep either swimmer from risking a false start DQ just to earn a finals spot), Lochte was faster through the water (1:45.31) than Conger (1:45.45) by about a tenth.
67.8% of voters picked Phelps & Conger, seemingly based on either (a) a belief that the younger Conger would be able to recover and swim finals better than the 32-year-old Lochte, (b) a dogged insistence that Team USA base its lineup 100% on Trials results and not on how swimmers are actually competing in Rio or (c) a fundamental misunderstanding of relay exchange reaction times and the importance of safe prelims exchanges.
The first rationale is certainly important (and Lochte did regress a little by his finals swim, only going 1:46.03), but the other two would seem far less defensible from the viewpoint of USA Swimming’s coaches, who are tasked with putting forward the nation’s best lineup – not necessarily the exact lineup of Olympic Trials finish orders.
22.3% of voters supported the old guard, Phelps & Lochte, and that’s the duo that wound up swimming at night. Phelps was 1:45.26 (1:44.99 factoring out the exchange), which is faster than either Lochte or Conger. Lochte, as mentioned above, did slide about four tenths in his “through the water” time, but Team USA still won a comfortable gold. Conger still earned a gold medal of his own for his prelims contribution.
9.9% voted for Lochte & Conger, which would mostly represent the Trials purists or those who didn’t feel Phelps wasn’t capable of a great 200 at age 31 or that an extra swim for Phelps might wear him out for his individual races. Phelps did win the 200 fly earlier in the same night and won the 200 IM two days later, but did slip to silver in the 100 fly on day 7 as his aggressive event lineup appeared to catch up with him.
Below, vote in our new A3 Performance Poll, which asks voters to weigh in on whether Ryan Lochte should be suspended for the incident in Brazil:
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The A3 Performance Poll is courtesy of A3 Performance, a SwimSwam partner
Listen, I like Phelps as much as anyone. But he didn’t even swim the event at trials. He shouldn’t have been in the relay. And lochte historically has been better in the relay than Phelps. Conger should have been in it no question
Has the fact that Conger was told, before prelims, that nothing he could do in the prelim swim would get him on the finals relay?
So in other words, a lot of Texas homers in the swim swam comments section. I don’t really get the extreme Conger love here.
Yes, Conger is incredibly talented (like any Olympic qualifier), but he has 11 fewer Olympic medals than Lochte. The day Conger goes to a big meet, like the Olympics or world championships, and beats the current world record holder to win gold, and is named “world swimmer of the year” by any publications, I’ll then concede that he’s at the Lochte level,
I am referencing Lochte beating Piersol in the 200 back for gold at the 2008 games, and him beating Phelps in the 200 IM for gold at the 2011 world championships, both… Read more »
Pointless discussion. USA won the way it was. Period.
Moot point.
I do think the poll is misleading being that people were voting after the relay final was over. It was already known that Phelps spilt a 1:45 flat without relay start while Lochte did worse than the morning (1:46 flat).
I think it would be interesting to see what people thought in the period between prelims and finals of the 4 x 200 relay. I think the results would have been different.
Majority of SwimSwam commenters seemed to want of Conger over Lochte during that prelim to finals window. That was pre gas station, which then added an ironic twist to the discussion. The door is open for Clark Smith if the gas station swimmers are suspended for 2017.
I would have loved to See Conger on that relay – he finished so well at the OT !!! anyway ….
Moot point. Would be a better discussion if USA didn’t get gold.