By John Lohn
BEIJING, China, August 10. A month ago, Stephanie Rice watched from Australia as Katie Hoff broke her world record in the 400 individual medley at the U.S. Olympic Trials. In the Olympic final, Rice reclaimed one of her treasures in the sport, and she needed every last bit of her new standard to capture gold.
Setting a blistering rate from the opening butterfly leg, Rice was well under world-record pace for a majority of the race. She headed into the final turn with nearly a second lead on Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry, who she held off at the wall, 4:29.45 to 4:29.89. Both women dipped under Hoff's world mark of 4:31.12. Hoff was the bronze medalist in 4:31.71.
The bronze medalist in the 400 IM at last year's World Championships, Rice had her breakout meet at the Aussie Trials, where she set world records in both medley events. The long wait from that point to Beijing was obviously worth it. Rice will now look to make it a sweep of the medley disciplines when she lines up for the 200 distance.
"I turned around and thought I saw a 4:31," she said. "I thought that really hurt for a 4:31. I was stoked when it turned over. It's an amazing achievement. It hasn't kicked in yet."
Coventry narrowly qualified for the final, finishing seventh in the preliminaries. But she laid it out during the final, also blasting away the former world record. For Coventry, her effort bodes well for the 100 and 200 backstroke races, along with the 200 medley. As for Hoff, she grabbed her first Olympic medal with a time not far off her best.
Elizabeth Beisel, the rising American teenager, finished fourth in 4:34.24, slightly quicker than the 4:34.34 of Italy's Alessia Filippi. There was a big dropoff from that point forward with Great Britain's Hannah Miley taking sixth in 4:39.44, ahead of Russia's Yana Martynova (4:40.04) and China's Li Xuanxu (4:42.13).
Results: 2008 Olympic Games - Swimming
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Reaction Time Comments
August 9, 2008 I dont even know how two girls just went under 4:30. This is starting to get out of hand hahaha. Katie Hoff was stunned at coventry and rice's times. Submitted by: WUswimmer
August 9, 2008 We have entered the Twilight Zone. I can't wait for the rest of the meet. After Rice's 4:29, NOTHING will surprise me from here on out. Submitted by: paddles
August 9, 2008 What will she do in the 200IM ?! Submitted by: chris
August 9, 2008 maybe 2:07 high? Submitted by: Park528
August 9, 2008 Does anyone know if Hoff and Lochte were tapered for trials?
(I read in an article by Janet Evans that Phelps and Ziegler weren´t).
If yes, that goes to show how a trial too close to competition is not in the athlets´ best interest..
Both Coventry and Rice had time to properly prepare and taper..as, of course, did Phelps. Submitted by: nadador
August 9, 2008 I didn't think that Zeigler was fully tapered. And I am pretty sure her coach mentioned she was tightened up from nerves. Submitted by: Park528
August 9, 2008 It seems like lochte and hoff were. I personally think lochte tonight more didnt swim his race and thats why he added about 2 seconds. His backstroke looked really good so thats a great sign. Katie only added .5 to her time so thats not too far off, could have just been nervous. At least she didnt collapse on deck like in '04 Submitted by: WUswimmer
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