2004 Olympic Games - Prelims Day 6 Aug 19
Aug 19, 2004 - Nikki Dryden
This morning's program staged the two most opposite events in swimming: men's 50 free and women's 800 free; not just in terms of distance and number of entries, but in how the athletes behave to the public's perception of the races. While the men in the 50 are celebrated for their bravado after sprinting 1 lap of the pool, music was actually playing during the heats of the 16 grueling laps completed by the women in the 800. True, the heats of distance freestyle events may not seem super exciting even to a diehard swim fan, but the lack of respect for those competing is disheartening.
Gary Hall Jr. (USA), the king of show and also the defending Olympic Champ looked strong, controlling the race perfectly over Roland Schoeman (RSA). Hall is first after heats in the 22.04, Schoeman is tied for 7th on 22.41, Bart Kizierowski (POL) is tied for 3rd spot with Salim Iles (ALG) at 22.26 and Frederick Bousquet (FRA) is 2nd with 22.24. Out of the semi-finals: Alexander Popov (RUS) and Pieter vd Hoogenband (NED) who finished 18th and 17th respectively.
Laure Manaudou (FRA) looked fantastic from start to finish. With a beautifully paced stroke, Laure pulled away from the dive and looks unbeatable for tomorrow night's final. Her time this morning was a best of 8:25.91 to second place qualifier Rebecca Cooke's (GBR) 8:28.47. 30 year old Jana Henke (GER) has been swimming this event for over a decade; an accomplishment that is unheard of in distance swimming. Henke sits in 4th spot and is always a threat for a medal.
Last year's world champ, Hannah Stockbauer (GER) was about 15 seconds off her best and did not qualify for the final. It took an 8:34.15 to get into the top 8, Brittany Reimer (CAN) was about 13 seconds off her best from last summer and finished 17th.
World record holder Ian Crocker (USA) looked back on track after a poor showing in the 100 free and split on the 4x100 free relay. He is the top qualifier after heats with a 52.03 followed by Andriy Serdinov (UKR) in 52.05 and Michael Phelps (USA) in 52.35. All three of these men have held the world record in this event and the final is one of the most anticipated of the Games as it will not only determine the Olympic Champion, but who swims (and has a great shot at another gold) on the US 4x100 medley relay.
One would think that in eight days of competition, the powers that be could create a schedule that minimized conflicts and exhaustion for the world's best swimmers. Unfortunately no schedule will ever satisfy everyone, but the women's 200 backstroke is certainly the one event that has suffered the most due to scheduling. Natalie Coughlin (USA) is arguably the best swimmer not in the event. She went a 2:08.53 in 2002.
Coughlin chose to swim the 100 free instead, which has its final tonight. Laure Manaudou (FRA) has only posted a 2:15.32 in the event, but has a 2:10.22 scm from 2003 and considering she swims a 1:00.64-100 back, 4:05.34-400 free, and 8:25.91-800 free (and will likely be faster in finals) imagine what she could do in the 200 back! Unfortunately, she just finished the 800, and rumor has it that she much prefers the 400 and 800 freestyle to even the 100 back. Perhaps her results here will give her the push to swim it at her next major competition.
Who is left? Stanislava Komarova (RUS) with a 2:10.71, Reiko Nakamura (JPN) with a 2:11.14 and Kirsty Coventry (ZIM) with a 2:12.29. 2003 World Champ, Katy Sexton is 8th with a 2:13.25, while Jennifer Fratesi (CAN) sits in 6th spot with a 2:13.00.
DAY 6 AUGUST 19 PRELIMS 50 METRES FREESTYLE 1 22.04 Hall Gary,74,USA 2 22.24 Bousquet Frederick,81,FRA 3 22.26 Kizierowski Bartosz,77,POL 22.26 Iles Salim,75,ALG 5 22.28 Draganja Duje,83,CRO 6 22.30 Sicot Julien,78,FRA 7 22.33 Lezak Jason,75,USA 8 22.41 Schoeman Roland,80,RSA 22.41 Volynets Oleksander,74,UKR 10 22.42 Hawke Brett,74,AUS 22.42 Nystrand Stefan,81,SWE 12 22.45 Busquets Ricardo,75,PUR 13 22.51 Novy Karel,80,SUI 14 22.52 Noriega Javier,80,ESP 22.52 Scherer Fernando,74,BRA 16 22.53 Ferns Lyndon,84,RSA 17 22.56 vdHoogenband Pieter,78,NED 18 22.58 El-Masri Rafed,82,SYR 22.58 Kenkhuis Johan,80,NED 22.58 Popov Alexander,71,RUS 21 22.59 Gimbutis Rolandas,81,LTU 22 22.70 Vismara Lorenzo,75,ITA 23 22.71 Lorente Eduardo,77,ESP 24 22.72 Tsagkarakis Apostolos,82,GRE 25 22.80 Scarica Michele,82,ITA 26 22.82 Callus Ashley,79,AUS 27 22.90 Meolans Jose M.,78,ARG 28 22.96 Shyrshov Vyacheslav,79,UKR 29 22.97 Kapralov Andrei,80,RUS 30 23.01 Rose Matthew,81,CAN 31 23.05 Cavic Milorad,84,SCG 32 23.12 Takacs Krisztian,85,HUN 33 23.13 Neviarovski Stanislav,81,BLR 34 23.19 Hernandez Marcos,78,CUB 35 23.20 Lee Chung-Hee,81,KOR 36 23.23 Nachaev Ravil,74,UZB 23.23 Becerra Camilo,80,COL 23.23 Silva Pedro,77,POR 39 23.26 Tayla Kaan,86,TUR 40 23.31 Probert Carl,75,FIJ 41 23.33 Hard Jere,78,FIN 42 23.41 Chen Zuo,82,CHN 43 23.43 Laban Joshua,82,ISV 23.43 Santos Julio,77,ECU 45 23.51 Papachrysantou Chrisan,79,CYP 46 23.52 Ong Allen,79,MAS 23.52 Chinnapasaen Arwut,80,THA 48 23.54 Wang Shao-An,84,TPE 49 23.56 Haustov Danil,80,EST 50 23.58 Mafio Jose,78,URU 51 23.61 Atkinson Jevon,85,JAM 52 23.67 Antonov Raichin,80,BUL 53 23.69 Diaz Rodrigo,84,GUA 54 23.84 Arnarson Orn,81,ISL 55 23.88 Shteinikov Oleg,85,KAZ 56 23.90 Haynes Terrence,85,BAR 57 24.68 Kaaki Abed R.,86,LIB 58 24.82 Arkhurst Gregory,76,CIV 24.82 Prudencio Mauricio,80,BOL 60 24.86 Dansou Alois,82,BEN 61 25.07 Bakale Rony,87,CGO 62 25.33 Hackel Chris,87,MRI 63 25.47 Jewel Ahmed,83,BAN 64 26.16 Shade Suke Cole,80,CMR 65 26.40 Steele Johnathan,84,GRN 66 26.61 Gjata Kreshnik,83,ALB 26.61 Danilov Semen,86,KGZ 68 26.75 Bonabart Anderson,80,FSM 69 26.81 Maliki Ibrahim,81,NIG 70 27.49 Hem Kiry,80,CAM 71 27.55 Ghezzawi Khaled,87,LBA 72 27.68 Hojamamedov Hojamamed,86,TKM 73 27.71 Mubah Hassan,84,MDV 74 27.72 De Freitas Donnie,84,VIN 75 27.77 Luberenga Edgar,79,UGA 76 28.10 Diawara Abdou,78,GUI 77 28.17 Vongphachanh Bounthanom,80,LAO 78 28.99 Sekamana Leonce,80,RWA 79 29.96 Keita David,80,MLI 80 29.97 Saad Mohammed,81,YEM 81 30.36 Ouedraogo Mamadou,67,BUR 82 32.86 Williams Malique,88,ANT 83 34.11 Walesi Yona,79,MAW 100 METRES BUTTERFLY 1 52.03 Crocker Ian,82,USA 2 52.05 Serdinov Andriy,82,UKR 3 52.35 Phelps Michael,85,USA 4 52.44 Cavic Milorad,84,SCG 5 52.54 Huegill Geoff,79,AUS 6 52.56 Draganja Duje,83,CRO 7 52.57 Rupprath Thomas,77,GER 8 52.61 Esposito Franck,71,FRA 9 52.62 Marchenko Igor,75,RUS 10 52.71 Yamamoto Takashi,78,JPN 11 52.76 Mangabeira Gabriel,82,BRA 12 52.91 Hickman James,76,GBR 13 52.93 Korotyshkin Evgeni,83,RUS 14 52.96 Mintenko Michael,75,CAN 15 53.07 Swanepoel Corney,86,NZL 16 53.11 Meeuw Helge,84,GER 17 53.22 Almeida Kaio,84,BRA 18 53.26 Pini Ryan,83,PNG 19 53.41 Keizer Joris,79,NED 20 53.45 Pine Adam,76,AUS 21 53.46 Sylantyev Denis,76,UKR 22 53.48 Cooper Todd,83,GBR 23 53.49 Nalesso Mattia,81,ITA 24 53.53 Morgado Simao,79,POR 25 53.63 Bousquet Frederick,81,FRA 26 53.87 Lagoun Pavel,79,BLR 27 53.89 Gherghel Ioan,78,ROM 28 54.02 Hard Jere,78,FIN 29 54.14 Mankoc Peter,78,SLO 30 54.15 Botes Eugene,80,RSA 31 54.20 Pastras Sotirios,86,GRE 32 54.26 Andersson Erik,84,SWE 33 54.29 Ilika Josh,76,MEX 34 54.43 Gaspar Zsolt,77,HUN 35 54.46 Salcius Rimvydas,85,LTU 36 54.58 Rojas Luis,79,VEN 37 54.71 Becerra Camilo,80,COL 38 54.76 Jeong Doo-Hee,84,KOR 39 54.87 Rubacek Michal,86,CZE 40 54.91 Palazov Georgi,80,BUL 41 55.03 Khudiyev Rustam,85,KAZ 42 55.12 Reynisson Hjortur,83,ISL 43 55.17 Wu Peng,87,CHN 44 55.24 Otero Eduardo,80,ARG 45 55.71 Miladinovski Alex,79,MKD 46 55.90 Lyashko Oleg,82,UZB 47 55.98 Valdivieso Juan,81,PER 48 56.22 Slimani Aghiles,82,ALG 49 56.37 Uras Onur,85,TUR 50 56.39 Rees Nicholas,83,BAH 51 56.68 Touw Ngie Gordon,85,SUR 52 56.80 Francis Conrad,81,SRI 53 56.81 Duda Andrejs,81,LAT 54 56.86 Wibowo Andy,80,INA 55 57.39 O'Keefe Daniel,73,GUM 56 57.85 Bisslik David,82,ARU 57 58.92 Matias Luis,86,ANG 58 1:00.91 Medrano-M. Fernando,88,NCA 59 1:01.60 Aweisat Rad,86,PLE WOMEN 200 METRES BACKSTROKE 1 2:10.71 Komarova Stanislava,86,RUS 2 2:11.14 Nakamura Reiko,82,JPN 3 2:12.49 Coventry Kirsty,83,ZIM 4 2:12.55 Hoelzer Margaret,83,USA 5 2:12.96 Buschschulte Antje,78,GER 6 2:13.00 Fratesi Jennifer,84,CAN 7 2:13.05 Ornstedt Louise,85,DEN 8 2:13.25 Sexton Katy,82,GBR 9 2:13.33 McLean Hannah,81,NZL 10 2:13.55 Terakawa Aya,84,JPN 11 2:14.06 Morgan Melissa,85,AUS 12 2:14.07 Verraszto Evelyn,89,HUN 13 2:14.42 Hetzer Nicole,79,GER 14 2:14.49 Amshennikova Irina,86,UKR 15 2:14.85 Adcock Frances,84,AUS 16 2:15.01 Jovanovic Sanja,86,CRO 17 2:15.34 Caverly Kristen,84,USA 18 2:15.77 Warden Elizabeth,78,CAN 19 2:16.08 Pivonkova Katerina,79,CZE 20 2:16.10 Lee Karen,83,GBR 21 2:17.29 Erke Derya,83,TUR 22 2:17.29 Filippi Alessia,88,ITA 23 2:17.62 Carman Anja,85,SLO 24 2:17.68 Lin Man Hsu,89,TPE 25 2:17.73 Lee Da-Hye,87,KOR 26 2:18.23 Morales Gisela,87,GUA 27 2:19.75 Putra Alexandra,86,FRA 28 2:19.83 Tsai Hiu Wai,83,HKG 29 2:21.11 Vorathamrong Chonlathor,80,THA 30 2:21.93 Karastergiou Eirini,82,GRE 31 2:23.39 Gotay Gretchen,80,PUR 32 2:26.17 Iskanderova Saida,80,UZB 33 2:31.56 Zhan Shu,86,CHN 800 METRES FREESTYLE 1 8:25.91 Manaudou Laure,86,FRA 2 8:28.47 Cooke Rebecca,83,GBR 3 8:30.08 Shibata Ai,82,JPN 4 8:30.87 Munz Diana,82,USA 5 8:31.06 Henke Jana,73,GER 6 8:32.36 Keller Kalyn,85,USA 7 8:33.61 Villaecija Erika,84,ESP 8 8:34.15 Paduraru Simona,81,ROM 9 8:35.81 Paton Sarah-L,86,AUS 10 8:35.90 MacKenzie Linda,84,AUS 11 8:36.24 Chen Hua,82,CHN 12 8:36.48 Yamada Sachiko,82,JPN 13 8:38.10 Rigamonti Flavia,81,SUI 14 8:38.17 Stockbauer Hannah,82,GER 15 8:40.41 Kobrich Kristel,85,CHI 16 8:41.20 Potec Camelia,82,ROM 17 8:41.55 Reimer Brittany,88,CAN 18 8:42.65 Lymperta Marianna,79,GRE 19 8:47.38 Pechanova Jana,81,CZE 20 8:57.96 Beresnyeva Olga,85,UKR 21 8:59.81 Marcus Golda,83,ESA 22 9:01.42 Kwon You-Ri,89,KOR 23 9:01.62 Petrova Jelena,89,EST 24 9:02.41 Linton Rebecca,85,NZL 25 9:02.88 Roffey Heather,87,CAY 26 9:03.13 Moralieva Ivanka,83,BUL 27 9:06.96 Duguet Paula,87,COL 28 9:10.91 Galic Anita,85,CRO 29 9:20.06 Ciss Khadija,83,SEN