Does anyone have further info on the German connection to Operacion Puerto?
And does it include athletes outside cycling??
a German woman, a relative unknown, just blew the doors off the 100 m record, a feat not easily accomplished. As a former competetive swimmer, I will tell you she dropped the record by a considerable margin and swam an even faster split in the 400 relay when the whole team smashed the record.
Even more implausible, she was off world record pace by 0.11 in the first fifty, and made up 0.2 seconds in the second fifty. That may not sound like much, but at their speeds thats maybe 3/4 body length over fifty meters...unfreekinbelievable
Even moreso than cycling, in swimming, your talent is known and identified early and you can make progress, but no one ever steps up and breaks a world record unless they have been winning for a long time.
Wonder what her T/E is???
BUDAPEST, Hungary - Germany's Britta Steffen set a world record in the women's 100-meter freestyle at the European Swimming Championships on Wednesday, finishing in 53.30 seconds.
She broke the mark of 53.42 by Australia's Lisbeth Lenton, set at the Commonwealth Games trials on Jan. 31 in Melbourne, Australia.
Steffen looked at the time on the screen above the pool and almost started to cry. She then took off her cap, her look turning to one of astonishment.
"I can't believe it. It's like when you lose and you can't believe it, either," Steffen said. "I still can't believe I set a new world record."
On Monday, Steffen was part of the German team that broke the world record in the women's 400 freestyle relay.
In the 100, Steffen was 0.11 seconds off the previous record at the 50-meter mark, but held up strongly on the second and final lap to break the record by 0.12.
Her previous best time was 54.29, a national record set in June at the German championships. But she was relatively unknown on the international stage.
The 22-year-old swimmer's best previous placing was 15th in the 50 freestyle at the 2002 Europeans. Steffen, however, gave an indication Monday of her potential when she swam her leg in the record-breaking relay in 52.66, the fastest ever.