Mark Maloney on Kentucky sports

           BEIJING –  Elaine Breeden tied for sixth in her semifinal heat of the women’s 100-meter butterfly Sunday morning (Saturday night EDT), before a Water Cube sellout crowd of 17,000. So now she has another day to rest for the 200 ’fly at the Beijing Summer Olympic Games.

            “Not my best. I was a little disappointed with the time,” the Lexington swimmer said of her 58.55-second finish. “But my butterfly’s feeling good, so I’m just going to rest up and look forward to the 200, which is my best event.”

            Preliminaries in the 200 begin Tuesday night (Beijing)/morning (EDT).

            Breeden’s swim came moments after Michael Phelps snagged the first of what he hopes will be eight gold medals.

            His time of 4:03.84 destroyed both his day-old Olympic record of 4:07.82 and his world record of 4:05.25, set in June at the U.S. Olympic Trials.

            “Afterwards, I looked up and saw President Bush giving me a thumbs up and holding the American flag,” Phelps said. “That was pretty cool.”

            Breeden’s heat was won by reigning world champion Lisbeth Trickett of Australia in 57.05. Christine Magnuson, out of the University of Tennessee, placed second in an American-record 57.08, advancing to the finals. The former American record of 57.34 was set last year by Natalie Coughlin.

            Breeden touched sixth, tied with Alena Popchanka of France.

            Australia’s Jessica Schipper, world record-holder in the 200 ’fly, won the second heat in  57.43.

            Finals are set for Monday morning in Beijing (Sunday night EDT).

            Breeden agreed that her semifinal exit might be a blessing in disguise when the 200 comes around.

            “Yeah, we’ll see how it turns out,” she said. “But I thought it was a really good race yesterday and a pretty good showing today. That would have been my best time before the (U.S.) Trials, so I can’t be too disappointed with that. I’m just going to sit back and cheer for Christy.”

            Phelps led a 1-3 American finish in the IM.

            Laszlo Cseh of Hungary took the silver medal in a European-record 4:086.16. Ryan Lochte won the bronze in 4:08.09.

            Three other events were decided, with the U.S. gaining a relay silver medal and a pair of individual bronzes:

·    A Netherlands team of Inge Dekker, Ranomi Kromowidjojo, Fmke Heemskerk and Marleen Veldhaus churned out an Olympic-record 3:33.76 in the women’s 4-by-100 freestyle relay. The U.S., with Coughlin, Lacey Nymeyer, Kara Lynn Joyce and 41-year-old Dara Torres took the silver medal in 3:34.33. Australia, anchored by Trickett, earned the bronze (3:35.05).

·    Katie Hoff of Towson, Md., took bronze in the women’s 400 indidual medley (4:31.71). Australia’s Stephanie Rice won, breaking Hoff’s world record in 4:29.45. Hoff’s record, set at the U.S. Trials, was 4:31.12. Rice was followed by South Africa’s Kirsty Coventry in an African-record 4:28.89. Elizabeth Beisel of Saunderstown, R.I., placed fourth.

·    Larsen Jensen of Bakersfield, Calif., beat his own American record in the men’s 400-meter freestyle to win a bronze. His time of 3:42.78 beat his 3:43.53, set at the U.S. Trials. Taehwan Park of South Korea won in an Asian-record 3:41.86. China’s Lin Zhang netted silver in 3:42.44. Peter Vanderkaay of Rochester, Mich., finished fourth.

           Team USA advanced both its swimmers to the finals of the men’s 100-meter breaststroke – world record-holder Brendan Hansen and Mark Gangloff. Hansen qualified fifth (59.94), Gangloff seventh (1:00.44). Norway’s Alexander Dale Oen was quickest (59.16), clipping his day-old Olympic record.

This entry was posted on August 10, 2008 at 12:16 am and is filed under Elaine Breeden, Kentucky, Lexington, Michael Phelps, Olympics, Swimming. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.