One of our readers today pointed out hat FINA has posted a list of “relay only” entries for the 2012 Olympics this summer in London, which can be seen here:
Men's relay only swimmers.
Women's relay only swimmers.
The most interesting name on the list is former Virginia All-American Scot Robison. Robison was on last year's World Championship team, but just missed this year's Olympic Team by .04 seconds when he placed 7th in the 100 free at the Olympic Trials.
Still, he is listed by FINA as a “relay only entry.” We've done some investigating, and discovered that Robison has been officially entered as just an alternate. If someone on the US team pulls out in the next week (either due to injury, a positive drug test, lack of desire) then Robison would be sent to London.
He is the only formally-listed relay alternate, because the other 11 relay-only spots awarded to the Americans (you get two per qualified relay, distributed as desired) are already handed out. This spot for Robison as an alternate only opened up after Michael Phelps dropped the 200 free – making Ricky Berens an “individual” swimmer not a “relay-only” swimmer.