This unique, winner-take-all dual swim meet will bring together the world’s two preeminent swimming powers in a primetime showdown featuring many of the sport’s most exciting athletes, including American Olympic stars Michael Phelps, Natalie Coughlin, Aaron Peirsol and Ian Crocker. The Australians will come prepared with world-class standouts Grant Hackett, Leisel Jones, Matt Welsh and Jodie Henry, among others. Also competing this year is a contingent of up-and-coming American stars, including Katie Hoff, Ryan Lochte and Kate Ziegler.
In total, the event will feature 66 Olympians accounting for 83 Olympic medals.
“People will be able to witness the top Americans and the top Australians right here in the United States,” Coughlin said. “They might not be able to travel to the Olympic Games or to the World Championship, but they’ll be able to see the best of the best here in the States.”
A rivalry that dates back to the 1924 Olympics has escalated quickly since the 2001 FINA World Championships, when an Ian Thorpe-led Aussie team shocked the world by tallying more gold medals than the Americans. Thorpe dominated the meet, earning six gold medals and setting three world records. Although Team USA won the overall medal count and the team score, the message was clear: Australia had reemerged as a force to be reckoned with.
The inaugural Mutual of Omaha Duel in the Pool in 2003 brought a frenzy of fiery competition to Indianapolis and reaffirmed America’s place at the head of the swimming table.
Team USA walked away with a commanding victory over Australia, 196-74, winning 21 of 26 events and setting the stage for America’s dominance at the 2003 World Championships later that year. Phelps dominated in Indianapolis, winning four events and setting a world record in the 400m individual medley. Many of the Australians, including Thorpe, did not compete in the 2003 meet. Coughlin, Sandeno and Australia’s Hackett also won multiple individual events.
The Americans once again stole the show at the 2003 Worlds, where Phelps won four gold and two silver, and broke an unprecedented five world records before making history at the 2004 Olympic Games. Phelps would leave Athens with eight medals, the most of any athlete in a non-boycotted Olympics, while Thorpe won four medals, making him the most decorated athlete in Australia’s Olympic history. Aussie teammate Henry was the standout of the Australian women’s team, capturing three gold medals and setting world records in all three events.
While America topped Australia in both the overall and gold medal counts, perhaps no victory was as rewarding as that earned by the men’s 800m freestyle relay team of Phelps, Lochte, Peter Vanderkaay and Klete Keller, who out-touched an Australian squad that had not lost that event in international competition in seven years.
Not to be outdone, the American women’s 800m freestyle relay team of Coughlin, Sandeno, Carly Piper and Dana Vollmer not only earned gold, but broke a 17-year old world record in the process. Team USA’s win in this relay prevented an Aussie sweep of the women’s relays.
With both countries establishing so many rising young stars over the past decade, many of the athletes competing at this year’s Mutual of Omaha Duel in the Pool have faced one another numerous times before, leading to a strong sense of familiarity – and a strong sense of personal, professional and national rivalry.
About Duel in the Pool/USA Swimming
The second edition of the Mutual of Omaha Duel in the Pool takes place on August 2, 2005. The event will be televised by NBC Sports and air on August 6 from 4-6 p.m. and August 7 from 12:30-2 p.m. For more information, visit www.duelinthepool.com.
USA Swimming
As the National Governing Body for competitive swimming in the United States, USA Swimming formulates the rules, implements policies and procedures, conducts national championships, disseminates safety and sports medicine information and selects athletes to represent the United States in international competition. USA Swimming has more than 300,000 members nationwide and sanctions more than 7,000 events each year. For more information, visit www.usaswimming.org.
Press Release Source: USA Swimming
