The latest twist in the Laure Manaudou v. Federica Pellegrini 2008 Olympics story is that Laure did not compete in the Wednesday finals of the 200 meter. It was kept in relative silence, but Manaudor had said she was thinking of quitting the day before.
Personally I feel sorry for Laure because she was in the perfect position to make a dramatic comeback on the World stage, and yet she gave up. Plus, in doing so, she allowed her nemesis Federica Pellegrini to win -- which she did -- and take the spotlight.
Female French Swimmer Laure Manaudou has had a hard go of it of late. Just on top of the swimming World two years ago and in love with Italian Swimmer Male Luca Martin, Laure Manaudou saw her life change rapidly.
After breaking up with Luca Martin, tossing the ring he gave her into the pool, nude photos of her surface on The Internet, embarrasing her in the process.
Fast Forward to Beijing. Luca Martin has taken up with another female swimmer, Federica Pellegrini. Beautiful, athletic, and stunning, Federica Pellegrini has Laure Manaudou's ex-boyfriend and her ex-coach.
Then on Sunday, Laure Manaudou suffers a total performance collapse, coming in last in the 400m Freestyle race. Then, to add insult to injury, Laure Manaudou's 2007 200m Freestyle record is broken by none other than Federica Pellegrini, who also turned her back on Laure on Sunday.
The only way Laure can prevail and salvage a wrecked career is to beat Federica Pellegrini in the finals on Wednesday.
I'm rooting for Laure Manaudou, as she's been through far too much and is too talented for the treatment she's gotten.
What's fascinating about this is the level of attention female swimmers are given in Europe; much more than in the United States. Swimmers like Laure and Federica appear on talk shows and in the front page of magazines, and are chased by photographers.
Laure Manaudou's naked photo scandal placed her squarely in the focus of the World last year. Now, with the Olympics in Beijing upon us and the related Torch protests, what she does is of even greater importance in the Zeitgeist.
Did this happen due to her scandal with Luca Martin, the Italian swimmer? Or was it the media attention? Whatever the case, Laure Manaudou finds herself with an uphill climb and a new problem to deal with: getting into the Olympics.
The hunger to read about Laure Manadou and see her in the flesh is arguably a World-wide phenomenon. Today, six of the tope 15 searches on the blog directory Technorati are for Laure Manaudou , using tags that have her name spelled in different ways. The photo I included shows this tag breakdown.
What's interesting is that with all of this, U.S. Presidential Ron Paul is still one of the top searches, and I can't remember a day when his name as a tag has not appeared on Technorati. So he has something in common with the "French Mermaid."
As for Laure, I think her standing will continue at least until the matter of who posted the pictures is resolved.
