Erik Vendt went into Sunday nights 1500 freestyle final as the favorite to not only win the even at trials, but also compete for gold in Beijing. Vendt finished the race 4th, out of the qualifying for the Olympics and 15 seconds slower than his prelim time.
But as per usual, Vendt showed the grace and sportsmanship that has lead many to say that they are lucky to have been a team member and a friend to this true Olympian. "It's going to be real hard to watch that 1,500. Going to be real hard,'' Vendt said. "I was looking at that all year as my chance to get individual gold.'' "The fact is, it wasn't there,'' he said. "I'm not going to look at the splits and say I should have taken off faster or easier. My effort was there. That extra something wasn't. I didn't put it together. The training was there. I trained better than I ever have. I was racing better than I ever have.
"I'm not going to sit around and mope. Fact is, I'm on the Olympic team. Everybody in the sport would die for that. I'm looking forward to going.''
As a result of his finish in the 200 Freestyle at the Trials, Vendt will compete in the 4x200 freestyle relay.
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