Olympics 2012: Pick of the Day - Women's 400m Freestyle Final
Defending champion Rebecca Adlington should be up against Camille Muffat, the fastest swimmer in the world this year. Sharron Davies has the lowdown
Swimming: Women’s 400m Freestyle Final 8:15pm, BBC1, BBC Olympics 6
The French swimmer Camille Muffat is fastest in the world this year, followed by our own Rebecca Adlington. The world record holder, Federica Pellegrini, is some way back but she didn’t have to swim a fast time to qualify because she’s so much faster than any other Italian.
For Rebecca, the 400m is a bonus. The 800m is her focus. I’d love to see her repeat those two golds from 2008 but, realistically, she won the 400m four years ago because people who were expected to win raced it badly, and she raced extremely well. This time, there’s a lot of expectation on her, but for the 400m she’s not the favourite — the French and Italian girls are.
You’d like to think the favourites will be watching each other and Rebecca can do exactly what she did last time and steal it. She’s the underdog in the world of swimming, even if the general public doesn’t know that.
Sharron Davies Silver medallist, 400m medley, 1980
