Katie Hoff, winner of three medals at the Olympic Games in Beijing, has withdrawn from the 800m free at US trials for world championships in Rome and may leave Indianapolis without racing her last scheduled event, the 100m free.
After suffering an infection that laid her low a few weeks back and disturbed her preparation, Hoff finished sixth in the 400m free at trials this week and 8th in the 200m free.
"The best swimmers, even Janet Evans, had years when they aren't on," Hoff told Reuters. "This has been a huge transition year. I've just got to go back to the drawing board and see what works for me again."
Hoff's struggles can be traced to a respiratory infection that had threatened to keep her from competing in Indianapolis. There are also questions over her adaptation from coach Paul Yetter to Bob Bowman, mentor to Michael Phelps who returned to North Baltimore after the Olympic Games in Beijing. Yetter will soon move to Auburn as head coach.
US media speculation suggests that Hoff is struggling with Bowman's regime, with Reuters quoting Phelps as saying: "Bob and Paul are different coaches. Bob can be forceful at times, can be intimidating. I'm sure both of them want the best but they approach things differently. I told her if she ever needs anything, I probably know Bob better than anybody in this world. We have spent the last 13 years together I've been through just about anything you can go through with that man."
The coverage of the issue in the US takes a distinctly US slant. Most nations would celebrate as a hero any woman who came home from the Games with a silver and two bronze medals. Expectation of gold is the key to the coverage: Hoff was tipped, somewhat unfairly, as the female Phelps. She might have won a few golds and up to six medals. It didn't work out like that. Nor was it the disaster that some painted it to be.
The knock from Beijing lives on. "After I got sick I thought about not coming but I started getting better and didn't want to be a quitter this year after everything I've been through," Hoff said. "We [Bob] talked about this being a low key year but it has actually been the hardest year of my life. After we started doing max out weights and we did the Navy Seal thing, I felt like I was digging into a deeper and deeper hole and couldn't get out of it. Everyone is different. Everyone's not Michael Phelps.
"I don't know how he does it but my body doesn't work the same way and I think Bob and I have to talk it over and figure out what works best for me."
This lost summer in the career of Katie Hoff coincides with the lost summer for swimming as a whole as the sport comes to terms with the circus of suits that will no longer be in the race pool in 2010. Hoff's current dilemma may turn out to be a blessing in disguise.
