By John Lohn
BEIJING, China, August 10. CHAPTER Two of the Michael Phelps saga featured a leisurely stroll through the preliminaries of the 200 freestyle. The world-record holder in the event, just hours after setting a global mark in the 400 individual medley, wasted minimal energy en route to the fourth-fastest qualifying time of the evening.
Racing in the last of eight heats, Phelps produced a time of 1:46.48. That effort was good for second in his heat as Switzerland's Dominik Meichtry was the victor and top qualifier into the semifinals with a performance of 1:45.80. Meichtry was followed into the next round by South Africa's Jean Basson (1:46.31) and Canada's Brent Hayden (1:46.40).
Another Canadian, Colin Russell, was fifth in 1:46.58 while sixth through eighth went to Korea's Tae Hwan Park (1:46.73), Russian Danila Izotov (1:46.80) and Japan's Yoshihiro Okumura (1:46.89). Park was coming off his gold-medal showing in the 400 freestyle, where he became the second-fastest man in history, trailing only Aussie legend Ian Thorpe.
Also advancing to the semifinals were Italy's Emiliano Brembilla (1:47.04), German Paul Biedermann (1:47.09), Great Britain's Ross Davenport (1:47.13), American Peter Vanderkaay (1:47.39), France's Amaury Leveaux (1:47.44), Aussie Nicholas Sprenger (1:47.64), Israel's Nimrod Shapira Bar-Or (1:47.78) and Austria's Dominik Koll (1:47.81).
Results: 2008 Olympic Games - Swimming
Premium Members - Search More About: Dominik Meichtry
Reaction Time Comments
August 10, 2008 I actually heard on a ESPN Radio Olympic Update that, "Micheal Phelps could be in trouble, only qualifying 4th..." CLUELESS! Submitted by: PhatMatt
August 10, 2008 they are not clueless... most of their listeners are and thats who they are playing to. its all build up Submitted by: onehandtoucher
August 10, 2008 good point oth...however I don't know if this build up helps the average sports fan understand Phelps greatness. They should be talking about how he is in the stratosphere of Woods, Armstrong and Jordan. Submitted by: PhatMatt
August 10, 2008 Hahaha kind of like Dan Hicks said during the 400 IM final, "Phelps is like Tiger in a speedo!" I dont even know what thats supposed to mean haha Submitted by: WUswimmer
August 10, 2008 WUswimmer-- Tiger Woods! As in, the greatest ever at his sport. Submitted by: Ako
August 10, 2008 I know what he meant it was just kind of stupid how he tried to compare them like that. Dan Hicks doesn't really know that much about swimming so it was kind of out there when he said that. Submitted by: WUswimmer
August 10, 2008 Phelps loses at his events alot less often than Woods does. Not sure about Armstrong as I don't know his record other than Tour de France. Most of my elite cyclist friends believe Armstrong was doping anyway. But can't compare Phelps with Jordan; it's like apples/oranges. They have to have two categories: greatest in individual vs. team sports. I hope that Phelps holds back just enough to still win the 200, but save himself for the relay leadoff; as the relay is going to come down to tenths I'm sure. I'm guessing he had planned to hold back a little bit in the 400IM too, but his competitiveness got the best of him when he saw Lochte and Czeh even with him at the mid-point. Submitted by: liquidassets
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