[UPDATE 1 pm Eastern: On its site, Sports Illustrated has a detailed sequence of photos that provides the best visual evidence so far of a Phelps victory.]
Below, the two underwater photos that document the finish of the 100-meter butterfly on Saturday morning in Beijing. Since no official photos of the finish were released, some questioned the result, which awarded the gold medal to Michael Phelps by 0.01 of a second over Milorad Cavic. Soon after, however, Cavic said on his blog that he accepted Phelps’s victory.
(Conspiracy theorists might point out, as at least one of our readers has, that Phelps is a spokesman for Omega, the official timekeeper of the event, a situation in which the watch company might seem to have a vested interest in a victory by an “Omega ambassador”.
The photos below illustrate how agonizingly close the end of the race was. The picture at the top was taken the moment before the finish; the bottom was taken at the finish. Phelps is on the left; Cavic on the right.
Michael Phelps of the U.S., left, and Milorad Cavic of Serbia in the moment before (top photo) the final touch (bottom photo) as Phelps throws his arms forward to out-touch Cavic by 0.01 of a second to win the gold medal in the men’s 100-meter butterfly. It was Phelps’s seventh gold medal win, equaling Mark Spitz’s 1972 Munich games record. (EPA/Patrick B. Kraemer)
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A better frame of the win can be found here
— rakeonhttp://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/0808/oly.phelps.sequence/content.5.html
If one blogger is a backlash then consider me - one commenter - the mass of humanity that is supporting the efforts of a fine athlete! Go Michael!
— TaylorThanks, rakeon. Great photo sequence at the SI site!!
— MTShouldn’t there be sensors on the touch pads that indicate a winner? Seems simple enough, and would eliminate any needed scrutiny of such photos.
— Ninth LifeI’m in awe of the top photo. To see that photo and where their arms are at that point in the race and the fact Phelps still wins (unbiased touchpad, conspiracy folks!). That photo is a testament to Phelp’s greatness. Everyone else can view all the variations of the bottom photo and argue endlessly; I’ll be appreciating the top photo.
— JayMaybe sensors would be a problem because of all the water splashing about?
— AlanIt was a very tight race, this video indicates that Phelps was first. Amazing race! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypaT6Q1RKXM
— IDUh, Ninth Life, *of course* there are sensors on the touchpads. How on earth else could they determine a 1/100th of a second difference? The photos are back-up for possible touchpad error or malfunction.
— TravisUhm, Ninth, there have been touch sensors in the pads for over 30 years, since Mark Spitz was swimming in Munich.
The bottom photo is still several inches from the wall, actually, probably about 4 inches for Cavic and about 6 inches for Phelps. As Phelps fully extends his arms, he makes up that last bit of difference. It’s definitive.
— KenCNinth Life - you must not be paying very close attention to the games. There *are* sensors on the touchpads. That’s why the scores are up on the boards immediately after the finish. No human could distinguish a 1/100th of a second difference between two swimmers. The touchpads recorded it. The scrutiny is because we as human beings just don’t trust technology sometimes and have to see it for ourselves, especially when it looked like Phelps was so far behind. But the fact of the matter is that Phelps is amazing and made the giant leap of effort to close the gap and get the win. The clock never lies.
— TrieYes, thank you, rakeon. The sequence of images at the link provided on comment #1 makes me a believer. I can see why Cavic dropped the protest.
— dpk-vtWhy are these guys not prepared for a photofinish? The two photos on this site are cropped differently, so they don’t even appear to be evidence. How about 200fps video showing the last 2 seconds of the race.
Living in the Pacific timezone, it is difficult to have a positive attitude about the olympics. NBC has the right to show them live, but they don’t. They show the race only after many webpages have had the results up for 3 hours. Oh wait, they are showing the race live at the NFL game tonight for the Baltimore audience. Maybe I can tune in to that to watch Phelps win. Nice.
— MikeVidThere are sensors in the wall. That’s how they determine the winner.
-smart guy
— smart guyWhy would they have the camera centered in at about waist level and not coned in perpendicular to the wall?
— Fred FlintExcellent youtube video there. It still seems kind of crazy that the video is so hard to analyze. Maybe they could do what Jeopardy does and have a light on the pad turn on when the pad is hit.
— MIkeVidlooks to me like Phelps was second.
— kytAs has been noted, the video is only intended as a backup in case of failure of the electronic sensors. In the absence of any apparent failure the results would never be over turned. All the swimmers win or lose by those timings and they accept the results. What may happen in the future is that the I.O.C. may decide that if the difference in time is = to or
— John BradyIn that photo sequence from sports illustrated you can see that Cavic’s timing had him doing a long glide to the finish while Phelps was doing another stroke. It look likes Cavic was not very straight gliding in, even looking up as he approached the wall. His body is not perfectly straight in some of the frames of the approach. I think Cavic lost the race by this technical mistake in the last meter more than Phelps did some super human thing in his last stroke. But, it was sure exciting.
— George ToadIt is very clear from the *close-up* photo of Cavic’s hands (on the SI) website that Cavic touched second.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_galle ry/0808/oly.phelps.sequence/content.5.html
(Click the right arrow to move to the close-up shot)
His problem was that he really needed another partial stroke to finish the race, and had to rely on his inbound momentum to carry him to the wall, for which he was desperately reaching.
Phelps last stroke carried him precisely to the wall, and his right-hand fingers are clearly bent against the wall while Cavic still has not touched.
Frank Feather (Canada)
— Frank Featherthanks rakeon, at this point I just wanted to see it.
I think New York Times needs to take their image down. The Serbs would not have agreed to the Phelps win if it wasn’t conclusive.
Congratulations to one of the world’s greatest athletes, if not the greatest, Michael Phelps. Only if it’s by a fingernail, it was the decision he made at the last minute that gave him that fingernail.
Mine were bitten off by the finish.
— KimGreat photo sequence at the SI site, thanks Rakeon - quite amazing. And to dpk-vt, neither Cavic nor his coach wanted to file a protest - it was Serbian Olympic Committee. Cavic himself has been very gracious, a true sportsman.
— LarrySo, what’s more disappointing? Being runner-up to the gold medal by 0.01 seconds, or finishing out of the medals in fourth place by 0.01 seconds? Both happened in this race. Would you rather be Milorad Cavic or Ian Crocker?
The touchpad is the final word, but people want to see it with their own eyes — therefore, the need for photographic/video evidence. (Could you imagine if there were no photos and FINA just said, “Trust us. The touchpad said he was first.”) But judging 0.01 seconds with the naked eye on YouTube or even HD tv is sort of ridiculous.
Thankfully, FINA has video that can slow the finish down to 1/10,000th of a second. They even went as far as to let the Serbian coaches into the room to view it for themselves which is unusual. The coaches couldn’t believe it, but they said it was true. Phelps touched first.
AP headline: “Human eye can’t keep up with fast-closing Phelps”
— DylaNYes I am quite frustrated with NBC for waiting until 10PM PT to air the Phelps race… and then they have the audactity to put a “live” caption on the screen! NY Times and even NBC had a written account of the race posted well before the race was aired. Shame on NBC! Go Phelps!
— marcccSomeone in another blog wrote: “Doesn’t butterfly have a two-hand touch rule?”
Interesting question! Does FINA have this rule?
The world has imperfections. High tech can’t even give us the answers, not to mention this maybe the case that is beyond what human eyes can see.
Let it be!
[NYT ed.: Yes, a two-hand touch is required for the finish.]
— lewI am Michael’s fan and enjoyed his 7 gold medals (number eight will be easily win) but I agree with Fred Flint:
— LCM“a camera coned in perpendicular to the wall is smarter”