i was keenly watching the finals of the women's 4 x 100 meter relay. at the very start i noticed something wrong. lead-off U.S. swimmer natalie coughlin hit the pool first and had a half body length over everyone else at the 50 meter mark yet somehow was overtaken by the australian and the dutch on the way back. the 2nd leg U.S. swimmer was even slower. dara torres for all her vaunted strength could never have overtaken the dutch and the australian with the lead they had on the final leg. now natalie coughlin is a world record holder. for her to be overtaken in a relay, particularly in the lead-off, is very suspicious. if she had just kept her lead, the U.S. could probably have won the gold. did she intentionally hold back so as to conserve her strength for her individual events? if she goes on to win these in record times i'd say she really did ease off in the 4 x 100 team relay.
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i was keenly watching the finals of the women's 4 x 100 meter relay. at the very start i noticed something wrong. lead-off U.S. swimmer natalie coughlin hit the pool first and had a half body length over everyone else at the 50 meter mark yet somehow was overtaken by the australian and the dutch on the way back. the 2nd leg U.S. swimmer was even slower. dara torres for all her vaunted strength could never have overtaken the dutch and the australian with the lead they had on the final leg. now natalie coughlin is a world record holder. for her to be overtaken in a relay, particularly in the lead-off, is very suspicious. if she had just kept her lead, the U.S. could probably have won the gold. did she intentionally hold back so as to conserve her strength for her individual events? if she goes on to win these in record times i'd say she really did ease off in the 4 x 100 team relay.