Duel In the Pool

Photo: Teams USA and AUS
How much fun I had at the Duel! I finally got all the Duel pics up. I can't tell you how much stellar that meet was. I loved the format. Seeing one race after another all in one afternoon. So many world record holders in one place. Very exciting. I was sad when I looked my pics that I didn't more pics of the Aussies on the deck. They really get into dressing up in funny wigs and Green and Gold. At Worlds I sat with the P.O.O.S., (Parents Of Our Swimmers), who were the parents of the Aussie team. Wonderful, fun, amazing people and we cheered together at Worlds. At the Duel it was a different matter. What a fun sense of competition! At one point Brendan Hansen crossed over to the spectator side of the pool and threw his cap out into the stands. He really is open and giving with the fans. A swim coach right in front of me caught it and offered to let one of his little swim girls wear it if she met some difficult goals. I felt that with that as focal point there was no way she would miss her marks. Speaking of Brendan Hansen, when the Athletes came out for the introduction they all had a small stuffed animal that they tossed out into the crowd. I caught the little Eagle that Brendan threw out. It seemed like it flew from his hands, but I wasnt sure until later when I realized it had been signed by him. Sweet! When I told him it was I who caught it, he was as surprised as I was. Haha! Later in the meet Kaitlin Sandeno and some of the other girls stood one to each of three sections, (sorry I am not sure who the others were as they were far away from me), and each girl held up a sign bearing a different letter coaxing the crowd to chant "U. S. A." It was fun. As we were chanting, Michael Klim could be seen clapping along to the "USA" chant and I couldn't help but imagine how great it would be if the Aussie girls would rearrange the letters and get the crowd to chant "A. U. S." !! It was such a friendly rivalry. Aaron Peirsol and Michael Klim exchanged their hockey style jerseys and could be seen wearing each others colors with pride. Carly Piper was wearing an Aussie jersey too but I never got to read the back, so I don't know who she traded with. I did notice that Larsen Jensen's back was adorned with the word "Hoff" instead of "Jensen" from the very beginning of the meet. I really loved that. I wanted to take off my shirt and trade it for one of those jerseys too, although I would have been hard pressed to find someone who wanted to trade. Heh. It was so much fun to see how close the AUS v USA women were matched. I really was surprised to see how lopsided the men's competition was. I understand that there will be some serious work in Australia before the next duel. As usual, for me, the points didn't matter. It was a truly special day and I loved it. All the athletes seemed to be really enjoying themselves during the races and on the deck. I was happy the event was televised so I could really watch it. I did get to watch the meet quite a bit, but it is hard to pay attention while taking pictures. If USA Swimming or NBC were to sell the video, I would hope they would show all the races and all the interviews. So ends my Duel recap!