| By Curt and Jamila Hayman (Chief Editors),
on Sunday Aug, 10 2008 11:13:53 pm MST
|
BEIJING -- Michael Phelps' historic quest for eight gold medals at a single Olympics continued Monday morning -- but by the thinnest of margins. Jason Lezak charged home in the anchor leg of the 4x100m freestyle relay to outtouch 100m world-record
holder Alain Bernard of France. Lezak swam a 46.0 anchor, the
fastest in history. The team time of 3:08.24 shattered the world record
set by the U.S. team Sunday in the prelims, swam without Phelps. France
finished at 3:08.32. "I've been on the last two relays, where we came up short, and to be honest with you, I was tired of losing," Lezak said. The Americans said they were motivated by the French team's prediction of gold. "We love listening to other people talk stuff about us, because it just fuels us," said Cullen Jones, who swam the third leg. Phelps
swam a strong opening leg, putting the Americans in second behind
Australia. Phelps broke the American record in the 100m free with his
leadoff leg of 47.51. He then turned cheerleader and screamed with emotion as Lezak touched out Bernard. "I was going nuts. As soon as he came off that last wall, I was going crazy," Phelps said. Also, two more world records fell at the Water Cube. Kirsty
Coventry continued the record theme started by Michael Phelps in the
400m IM on Sunday, taking the 100m backstroke mark away from Natalie
Coughlin with a swim of 58.77. "I'm kind of shocked. I didn't expect that," Coventry told NBC's Andrea Kramer. Coughlin,
held the record at 58.97, swam 59.43 in her semifinal. She's attempting
to became the first woman to repeat as Olympic champion in this event. Then Kosuke Kitajima of Japan defended his
Olympic title and became the first swimmer to go under 59 seconds in
the 100m breast, taking away the world record from Brendan Hansen with
a time of 58.91. Hansen, the silver medalist in Athens, placed fourth. "I left it all out there. Everyone else at there
got really fast," Hansen said. "I don't want to go out like that, and
I'm definitely not going to go out like that. Hansen congratulated his rival Kitajima in the
pool after the race. "I kept it simple," he said of his words. "I'm
happy for him. That's a heck of a swim." In other action: Women's 400m free final Katie Hoff led until the final few meters but
was touched out by the slimmest of margins by Rebecca Adlington of
Great Britain. Adlington finished in 4:03.22 and Hoff in 4:03.29. Men's 200m free semifinals Phelps safely advanced to Tuesday's final, third
in his heat. He'll be back in the water in a little over an hour to
swim a leg of the 4x100m free relay. Swimming without Phelps in the
prelims, the U.S. men set a world record in qualifying at 3:12.23. Women's 100m butterfly final Australia's
Libby Trickett, the world-record holder, took the gold with a time of
56.73. American Christy Magnuson won the silver.
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Lezak tracks down French in relaySunday, 10 August 2008
BEIJING -- Michael Phelps' historic quest for eight gold medals at a single Olympics continued Monday morning -- but by the thinnest of...
Last update: Monday Aug, 11 2008 11:04:30 pm MST
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