There are so many posts about the finish of the men's 100 Fly in Beijing, but I just had to chime in.
If I had not seen the scoreboard, I would not have thought Phelps would have been the gold medalist in the 100 meter butterfly. Phelps' mom and Bob Bowman couldn't believe it either. It was that close.
If anything shows the importance of the finish in the sport of competitive swimming, this race makes the point clear. Cavic clearly had Michael beat, but made the "micro-split" second decision to not take an additional stroke and finished with a long glide. Phelps, on the other hand, exploded into the wall with a powerful, lightning fast, extra stroke. Had he not done this, Cavic would have been wearing a gold medal around his neck.
You can currently see a frame shot of the finish from beneath here... (Not sure how long these pics will stay up due to the controversial nature of the finish).
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