Sun 10 August 2008 10:00 Morning Session
- Men's 400m Individual Medley Final
GOLD - 4:03.84 WR Michael Phelps, USA
SILVER - 4:06.16 Laszlo Cseh, HUN
BRONZE - 4:08.09 Ryan Lochte, USA
- Women's 100m Butterfly Semifinal
1. 57.05 Libby Trickett, AUS
2. 57.08 Christine Magnuson, USA
3. 57.43 Jessacah Schipper, AUS
4. 57.54 Li Tao, SIN
5. 57.68 Yafei Zhou, CHN
6. 57.78 Jemma Lowe, GBR
7. 58.20 Inge Dekker, NED
8. 58.39 Gabriella Silva, BRA
- Men's 400m Freestyle Final
GOLD - 3:41.86 Tae Hwan Park, KOR
SILVER - 3:42.44 Lin Zhang, CHN
BRONZE - 3:42.78 Larsen Jensen, USA
4. 3:43.11 Peter Vanderkaay, USA
- Women's 400m Individual Medley Final
GOLD - 4:29.45 WR Stephanie Rice, AUS
SILVER - 4:29.89 Kirsty Coventry, ZIM
BRONZE - 4:31.71 Katie Hoff, USA
4. 4:34.24 Elizabeth Beisel, USA
- Men's 100m Breaststroke Semifinal
1. 59.16 OR Alexander Dale Oen, NOR
2. 59.55 Kosuke Kitajime, JPN
3. 59.65 Brenton Rickard, AUS
4. 59.83 Hugues Duboscq, FRA
5. 59.94 Brendan Hansen, USA
6. 1:00.10 Roman Sludnov, RUS
7. 1:00.44 Mark Gangloff, USA
8. 1:00.55 Igor Borysik, UKR
- Women's 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay Final
GOLD - 3:33.76 OR Netherlands (Dekker 54.37, Kromowidjojo 53.39, Heemskerk 53.42, Veldhuis 52.58)
SILVER - 3:34.33 USA (Coughlin 54.00, Nymeyer 53.91, Joyce 53.98, Torres 52.44)
BRONZE - 3:35.05 Australia (Campbell 54.43, Mills 54.43, Schlanger 53.85, Trickett 52.34)
OR = Olympic Record
WR = World Record
Olympic Results and Event Schedule
Olympic Swimming Headquarters
Full Results From the Olympic Swimming Pool
USA Swimming Report: Phelps Sets World Record, Three American Records Fall on First Day of Olympic Swimming Finals
Michael Phelps (Baltimore, Md.) won a gold medal and shattered the world record by nearly a second-and-a-half in the 400m IM Sunday at the 2008 Olympic Games, turning in a time of 4:03.84. Phelps' medal was the first of five for American swimmers Sunday."I knew I was going to need a strong breaststroke when we all turned together at the wall," Phelps said. "Ryan turned dead even with me, so I knew I was going to have to overpower him in the breaststroke."
Later in the morning, Bakersfield's Larsen Jensen lowered his American record for the second time in two days, en route to a bronze medal in the 400m freestyle. His time of 3:42.78 was over three-tenths faster than his prelims time.
Also garnering hardware for the U.S. in individual events were Ryan Lochte (Daytona Beach, Fla.) with a bronze in the men's 400m IM and Katie Hoff (Towson, Md.) with a bronze in the 400m IM. The bronze was Hoff's first Olympic medal.
The American women's 400m free relay squad of Natalie Coughlin (Vallejo, Calif.), Lacey Nymeyer (Tucson, Ariz.), Kara Lynn Joyce (Ann Arbor, Mich.) and Dara Torres (Los Angeles, Calif.) capped finals with a silver medal and an American record in that event with a time of 3:34.33.
In semi-final action, Christine Magnuson (Tinley Park, Ill.) advanced to the finals as the second seed with an American record swim in the 100m butterfly (57.08). Both Brendan Hansen (Havertown, Pa.) and Mark Gangloff (Akron, Ohio) advanced to tomorrow's 100m breaststroke final. Hansen took the fifth seed with a time of 59.94 while Gangloff is the seventh qualifier with a time of 1:00.44.
In the women's 400m IM, Hoff finished behind Australia's Stephanie Rice, who won gold, turning in a world record time of 4:29.45.
Of Note: President George Bush was in the stands for the race and greeted the team after the morning session ... 41-year-old Dara Torres became the oldest Olympic swimming medalist in history when she anchored the silver-medalist women's free relay.
RACE RECAPS:
The men's 400m IM shaped up to be a three way race between Phelps,
Lochte and Hungarian Laszlo Cseh. All three were neck-and-neck and under
world-record pace through the backstroke leg, when Phelps started to
break away. Cseh took silver in 4:06.16, while Lochte was third in
4:08.09.
"I guess you can say I went out too fast, but I knew I had to get out fast," Lochte said. "The backstroke took a lot out of me, but I did my best. I can't ask for more. "Michael competed the whole way and did really well. He had a great race, and I'm really proud of him."
Phelps hinted that this race would be his last 400m IM, and won his gold medal in front of President George Bush, who was in the audience on Sunday. "I told Bob [Bowman] that this would be my last 400 IM, so I wanted to go out there and get a good time," Phelps said. "And this was a good time. "Afterwards, I looked up and saw President Bush giving me a thumbs-up and holding the American flag. That was pretty cool."
Korea's Taehwan Park led the pack for all but 50 meters of the men's 400m free, winning with a time of 3:41.86, followed by China's Lin Zhang in 3:42.44 and Jensen. Jensen was in fifth place at the halfway point and made his move on the pack in the last 100 meters. His late surge, however, came up short, and he finished 34-hundredths of a second behind Zhang. American teammate Peter Vanderkaay was fourth in 3:43.11.
"I probably could have gone out a little faster," Jensen said. "I saw (Zhang) next to me in the last 50 and just buried my head. I was hoping for gold, but everyone in that race was. I gave it everything I had."
Australia's Rice was in command of the women's 400m IM from start to finish, and at one point was as much as 2.99 seconds ahead of world record pace. Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry was tight on her tail the whole way, taking the lead for a brief moment at the end of the backstroke leg.
Hoff trailed the two by a body length for most of the race, touching in 4:31.71, 59-hundredths off her former world record. Rice won gold in world-record time, while Coventry took the silver in 4:29.89. American Elizabeth Beisel (Saunderstown, R.I.) finished fourth in 4:34.24.
Joyce swam a key leg for the U.S. in the women's 400m free relay, moving the team into second position at the 300-meter mark, 71-hundredths behind the Netherlands. Torres held off Australia and China down the stretch for the silver medal. The Netherlands won gold in an Olympic record time of 3:33.76, while Australia took bronze in 3:35.05.
