Beijing Olympics - Swimming

[Sirius]

Rice steams to gold and world record


An ecstatic Stephanie Rice broke the world record to take Australia's first gold in Beijing's Watercube pool today.

Stephanie Rice lead the pool for the first 200 meters before being caught by Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry in the women's 400m individual medley.

But Rice pulled ahead in the breastroke leg and maintained the lead through the last freestyle lap to finish with a 4 minute 28.45 second time.

The pin-up girl of the Australian team threw her arms into the air in a gesture of triumph after the race ended when she realised she had broken the world record.

Park Tae-hwan takes gold, Hackett sixth

Korea's world champion Park Tae-hwan beat Australian medal hope Grant Hackett to take gold in the 400m freestyle event at the Beijing Watercube.

Hackett and Tae-hwan swam neck-to-neck in the first lap of the pool before the Korean pulled away.

Hackett lost ground in the final leg of the race hitting the wall in sixth place behind China's Lin Zhang and American Larsen Jensen.

The Korean was spruiked going into the Games as ready to break the 2002 world mark, but finished in a time of 3 minutes and 41.86 seconds.

Hackett knew today's race was going to be tough, commenting yesterday: "I knew it was going to be tight, but I didn't want to spend more than I had to spend to get into that final," Hackett said.

"But geez, it was a really fast eight guys."

Phelps smashes WR to snare first gold


American swim star Michael Phelps blitzed the pool to set a new world record and win his first gold medal in the super fast time of 4 minutes and 3.81 seconds.

Phelp's won the 400m individual medley giving him a career gold number seven and his first 2008 medal at the Beijing Watercube.

The American took an early lead in the butterfly leg of the event. Team mate Ryan Lochte crept ahead in the second backstroke leg but Phelps gained the front position in the breaststoke before pulling a body's length ahead in the freestyle. Both were followed closely by Hungarian Laszio Cseh who overtook Lochte to come second with a time of 4 minutes 8.16 seconds.

The first of the swimming finals kicked off before a crowd of about 5000 people in the 17,000 capacity stadium. A large contingent of Americans greeted Phelps and team mate Ryan Lochte with cheers as they arrived poolside.

Today's performance followed a strong effort in yesterday's heats where the American showed his form when he became the first swimmer of the 2008 Games to set a new Olympic record with a 4 minute 7.82 second performance that slashed 0.44 seconds from his old record set in Athens four years ago.

Phelps, chasing eight gold medals at these Games, admitted to feeling nervous prior to yesterday's swim.

"I'm happy to get the first-race jitters out," said Phelps yesterday. "It's the first race and it's probably one of the most important ones. It's about getting it out of your system.

Tricket and Schipper into butterfly final

Both Australians, Libby Tricket and Jessicah Schipper, qualified for the women's 100m butterfly finals event to be held tomorrow.

The pair finished first in their individual heats today.

[Sirius]

Iranian faces boot if Israel snubbed


AN IRANIAN swimmer may be expelled from the Games if it is found his sudden withdrawal from the 100-metres breaststroke heats was a political statement.

Mohammad Alirezaei was drawn in lane one and the Israeli Tom Be'eri in lane seven of the heat, which the Iranian did not start. Be'eri finished fourth.

Earlier, Iran had said that because there was "no face-to-face situation" in swimming, there would be no problem with its swimmer competing. "Alirezaei swims in lane one and the representative of the Zionist regime in lane seven, so they will not face each other," the secretary of Iran's Olympic committee, Ali Kafashian, said before the race.

Iranian officials have given no explanation for the no-show.

A spokeswoman for the International Olympic Committee spokeswoman, Giselle Davies, said: "The participation of the Olympic Games from athletes to athletes is under the spirit of respect and fair play so, should it be confirmed that there was someone refusing on this basis, this is something that the IOC will take seriously."

Israel and Iran are in conflict over religion and nuclear weapons. The President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has said Israel should be "wiped out from the map" but his Government's sports arm said before the Games there would be no boycott against Israeli athletes.

"This isn't the first time this has happened and it doesn't surprise me any more," said the general secretary of the Olympic Committee of Israel, Efraim Zinger.

[Sirius]

Swimming
04:10 - Australian Hayden Stoeckel breaks Vyatchanin's new Olympic record immediately, touching home in 52.97s, in the second of the 100m backstroke semis. American Matt Grevers finishes second while world record holder Aaron Peirsol overcomes a poor swim to sneak into the final from third place.
Swimming
04:00 - Russia's 6ft 7in Arkady Vyatchanin sets a new Olympic record of 53.06 as he takes top spot in the first of the 100m backstroke semi-finals. Britain's Liam Tancock finishes second to secure his place in the final.
Swimming
03:50 - World record holder Leisel Jones dominates the second semi touching home in 1:05.80 ahead of Mirna Jukic and Australian team-mate Tarnee White.
Swimming
03:40 - Rebecca Soni leads the way in the first of the 100m breaststroke semi-finals ahead of Yulyia Efimova and home favourite Sun Ye.
Swimming
03:35 - Kosuke Kitajima becomes the first man under 59s in history in the 100m breaststroke final, setting a new world record of 58.91s on his way to the gold medal. Norway's fast finishing Alexander Dale Oen took silver with Hughes Duboscq of France securing the bronze.
Swimming
03:25 - World champion Libby Trickett wins her first individual Olympic gold medal in the 100m butterfly final in 56.73 ahead of American Christine Magnusson and Australian team-mate Jessicah Schipper.
Swimming
03:20 - A tired looking Michael Phelps only finishes third in his 200m freestyle semi behind Peter Vanderkaay and Taehwan Park to qualify fourth fastest for the final.
Swimming
03:15 - Ross Davenport finishes third in the first of the men's 200m freestyle semis, behind Jean Basson and Danila Izotov, just outside a British record time.
Swimming
03:10 - Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry, who took silver in the 400m IM yesterday, powers to a new world record of 58.77s, finishing first in her 100m backstroke semi-final ahead of Anastasia Zueva and Margaret Hoelzer. France's Laure Manaudou finishes in fourth but qualifies for the final as does Spofforth.
Swimming
03:05 - Natalie Coughlin looks supreme in the opening semi-final of the women's 100m backstroke, easing to the win ahead of Reiko Nakamura. Brit Gemma Spofforth comes third leaving her with a great chance of making the final.

[Dalzi]

Hackett has dissapointed me

Originally Posted by Sirius

Iranian faces boot if Israel snubbed


AN IRANIAN swimmer may be expelled from the Games if it is found his sudden withdrawal from the 100-metres breaststroke heats was a political statement.

It can't be over politics, that's nuts! He was probably poisened by the Israeli (jk).

[lebgirl]

Michael Phelps is sooo amazing !!! I am so impressed by his performance. He is the best swimmer ever !

[Dalzi]

There we go... Another Gold medal for Stephanie Ricel!

[Sirius]

Phelps notches 11th Olympic gold


Michael Phelps today become the greatest Olympian in history winning his 11th gold overall and fifth at the Beijing Olympics.

The American superstar triumphed in the 200m butterfly, claiming his fourth world record in China in the process.

Phelps hit the wall first in a stunning time of 1 minute 52.03 seconds, taking 0.06 off the world record he set at the Melbourne world championships last year.

He then led America's 4x200m freestyle relay team to gold in yet another world record of six minutes 58.56 seconds, with Russia winning silver and Australia bronze.

The six medals Phelps won in Athens, and the five so far in China takes him past any other sporting legends, including Mark Spitz and Carl Lewis.

In the 200m butterfly, Hungary's Laszlo Cseh and Japan's Takeshi Matsuda took the battle to him but the pair couldn't keep up with the blistering pace of the best swimmer of all time.

Cseh swam a strong time of 1 minute 52.70 and Matsuda followed quickly to the wall with a time of 1 minute 52.97 seconds.

New Zealander Moss Burmester led the pack into the second turn finishing with a time of 1 minute 54.35 seconds.

[Sirius]

Rice's stunning medley double

A touch over two years ago, nobody outside of swimming circles, her family and friends, and maybe those on Facebook, knew anything about Stephanie Rice. Today, among a women's team of superstars, she is the Australian golden girl, claiming her second Olympic gold medal.

It was just 29 months ago that Rice broke onto the Australian landscape when she starred at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games. Since then she has produced stirring performances at the world titles the following year, world records at the trials in March, and now, the ultimate, golden Olympic souvenirs.


In one of the better races of the Games, a thrilling stroke for stroke battle with Zimbabwean Kirsty Coventry, Rice just managed to overhaul her tenacious rival right on the wall, and win by the bare margin of 0.13s.

Even she seemed surprised when she turned and looked at the scoreboard. First a blank look, then a massive roar of jubilation.

And just for the record, she broke the record, lowering her own world mark by a further 0.47s, clocking 2min.08.45s. For Coventry - who was 0.44s behind Rice in the 400m IM - it was de ja vu, as once again she surrendered a lead to the Australian after appearing set for gold.

Rice continues the trend of the past three Olympics where the woman who has won the 400m individual medley, goes on to win the 200m. In Atlanta in 1996 it was Irishwoman Michelle Smith, then in both Sydney and Athens, Ukrainian star Yana Klochkova took out the double.

"It's something I've dreamed about for a long time," she said of completing the Olympic double. "It was obviously my ultimate goal.

"I'm so excited to see the results pull through. I've put a lot of effort into this preparation so I'm really excited to see the results turn out the way they have.

"It was a really great battle (with Coventry) and that's what the Olympics are all about, the challenge."

American Natalie Coughlin, winner of the backstroke gold medal last night, collected the bronze in medley in a time of 2min.10.34s. Her US teammate Katie Hoff, who was expected to be the big threat to Rice in both the 200m IM and the 400m IM, finished fourth, just as she did earlier in the day in the 200m freestyle final.

Australia's other finalist, 20-year-old Alicia Coutts, swam a terrific race in her first major international meet, finishing in fifth place in a time of 2min.11.43s.

[Sirius]

Sullivan smashes world record - again


World records only last a matter of minutes now.

Frenchman Alain Bernard hit the water to shave 0.04 off Eamon Sullivan's two-day old world record in the 100m freestyle semis this morning.

Then, five minutes later Eamon Sullivan sliced through the water with an astonishing swim to set a new world record 0.19 seconds under his previous time.

Sullivan proved why he was rated favourite coming into the 100m freestyle setting a blistering time of 47.05 seconds.

Everyone was expecting a good performance from the world record holder today but few expected such remarkable swims from the entire field.

Matt Targett showed he was on form with a strong swim to take fourth position going into the finals with a time of 47.88 seconds.


100m WORLD RECORD PROGRESSION

50.39 James Montgomery USA Montreal 24-7-1976
49.99 James Montgomery USA Montreal 25-7-1976
49.44 Jonty Skinner SAF Philadelphia 14-8-1976
49.36 Rowdy Gaines USA Austin 3-4-1981
49.24 Matt Biondi USA Mission Viejo 6-8-1985
48.95 Matt Biondi USA Mission Viejo 6-8-1985
48.74 Matt Biondi USA Orlando 24-6-1986
48.42 Matt Biondi USA Austin 10-8-1988
48.21 Alexander Popov RUS Monte Carlo 18-6-1994
48.18 Michael Klim AUS Sydney 16-9-2000
47.84 Pieter van den Hoogenband NED Sydney 19-9-2000
47.60 Alain Bernard FRA Eindhoven 21-3-2008
47.50 Alain Bernard FRA Eindhoven 22-3-2008
47.24 Eamon Sullivan AUS Beijing 11-8-2008
47.20 Alain Bernard FRA Beijing 13-8-2008
47.05 Eamon Sullivan AUS Beijing 13-8-2008