By John Lohn
BEIJING, China, August 10. JUST four years ago, a performance of 4:05.34 was good enough to capture the gold medal in the women's 400 freestyle. Now, that kind of time doesn't even earn a spot in the championship final. Oh, how the sport has changed dramatically since Athens was the center of the sports universe.
The world-record holder, Italy's Federica Pellegrini set an Olympic record by winning the final heat the event in 4:02.19, slightly faster than the 4:02.24 registered by Rebecca Adlington of Great Britain. Four women went under the Olympic record of 4:03.85, which had stood since Janet Evans won the gold medal at the 1988 Seoul Games.
Katie Hoff, looking for her second medal of the meet after taking bronze in the 400 individual medley, snared the third slot for the final, thanks to a time of 4:03.71. That was the Olympic record for a handful of minutes. That effort was just ahead of the 4:03.80 by Great Britain's Jo Jackson. Hoff has been 4:02.20 and should be in the gold-medal mix with Pellegrini and Adlington during the championship final.
Australian Bronte Barratt was fifth in 4:04.16 and fifth was occupied by France's Coralie Balmy in 4:04.25. Rounding out the field for the medal round were Romania's Camelia Potec in 4:04.55 and France's Laure Manaudou, the defending Olympic champ, in 4:04.93. Whether Manaudou can rekindle her past remains to be seen.
Missing out on the final was American Kate Ziegler, who covered her prelim race in 4:09.59, nearly six seconds off of her personal best. Poland's Otylia Jedrzejczak, the silver medalist in Athens, and Aussie Linda Mackenzie also missed the final, despite swimming in the 4:05-range.
Results: 2008 Olympic Games - Swimming
Premium Members - Search More About: Federica Pellegrini
Reaction Time Comments
August 10, 2008 What's up with Ziegler? :-(
I mean, I understand Trials if she wasn't tapered, but over 5 seconds off her best here? Submitted by: Hodori88
August 10, 2008 i dont know what happened to ziegler either. thats incredibly disappointing, but its not that surprising to me since her best events at the 800 and 1500. It just shows that she needs to give up trying for the 1500 since it isnt an olympic event and focus on speed more. Submitted by: WUswimmer
August 10, 2008 I am quite sure that during the trials TV coverage it was mentioned that her coach stated that she doesn't swim good when she is nervous; that she tightens up. Maybe she is experiencing what Hoff experienced 4 years ago. Submitted by: Park528
August 10, 2008 "Physically I could not take Lucas' training sessions anymore. I was about to explode,"
Looks like the sad tale that is Manaudou should be coming to an end with her ex-coaches predictions coming quite true.
How many times do we see an athlete with supreme talent but who get lazy and don't want to keep up what's needed to stay on top fall? She was supposed to be a superstar in Beijing. Would anyone be surprised if she didn't get higher than 8th in tonight's final? And it would not surprise me to see her not advance to the 100 Back final.
Kind of sad really.
Shame about Zeigler too. I thought her stroke tech. looked bad at trials (well worse than normal anyway). She looked like she was struggling to get through the water. Another factor here to consider is that Kate looked "bigger" (like she had grown physically in height and shoulders and such--NOT that she was out of shape type bigger).
If she has grown, and if it has happened over the past few months, then this can be especially hard on females of this age and can realy throw them off in timing and such while they get all sorted back out, which can take some time. Not to say that this explains this swim (nerves more likely), but might explain why she has not looked good in the last few months. She has kind of struggled in some swims lately. Submitted by: rcoach
August 10, 2008 rcoach, I think you may be on to something with Ziegler.... I hope it is just nerves, but deep down I was thinking it could be the growth thing. She doesn't look "on top" of the water the way she did in the 1,500 free WR last summer.... And there I think she WENT OUT in a 4:09..... The same time that she swam the 400 individual here... Absolutely true that a change of body shape affects timing and position..... Uh oh.
The Italian girl looks solid..... Submitted by: Hodori88
August 10, 2008 Yup Hodori. I remember walking by her at trials and thinking to myself...'whoa..she's bigger' (again, height and frame wise).
And even a half an inch can throw things all out of whack with the way the entire body works in the water until you get to spend some time working things back into alignment and "grow into yourself".
And you are right....4:09...that's not just missing taper and she was out that fast in the 1500. And her 800 at Trials was not a comfortable looking swim when she was supposed to be ahead of Katie in that race and her 200 at Trials was downright awful.
But we are just speculating. Be interesting to get her coaches opinion of what happened after all is said and done.
Worrisome is that she will have to be out faster than 4:09 to win the 800 I think. Doubt an 8:20-8:24 is going to win it...might not even medal given the performances so far at this meet.
Submitted by: rcoach
August 10, 2008 I hope Ziegler didn't catch the stomach bug that PVDK, KLJ and Lochte have. I also read in the SwimmingWorld article about her unusual taper, and am hoping that means she still has a shot at the 800 later in the meet; as the article said she has a hard time tapering for a whole week and ends up doing better either in the beginning or end of a week. But she looked terrible right from the start. Hoff looked great though; I know she's the underdog but a 4:03 after the 400IM finals earlier in the day is still very impressive. Manadou has been so erratic I don't know what to think. If she gets her psychology together she might still be great but it doesn't look good for this meet. Submitted by: liquidassets
August 10, 2008 Now I'm beginning to wonder if Evans' 800m Free WR can last another Olympics! I don't think it will, but c'mon! It'd be kind of cool if it did! :-) Before the US Trials, I thought that record was Ziegler's for the taking..... Now I'm not so sure.... Submitted by: Hodori88
August 10, 2008 I just really think Manaudou has made too many mistakes both professionally (her preparation or lack thereof and personally).
I read a French press interview today and she still doesn't seem to get it (or maybe she is just not wanting to get it). 2 years ago she was the queen of swimming, now she stands to be the postergirl for obscelecence if she's not careful. (hope I spelled that right).
There should be a lot of women out there watching what Hoff, Pelegrini and such are doing. Seems like they are really getting it right. Submitted by: rcoach
August 10, 2008 Re: the 800 record, Hoff will be too tired I think; it's up to Adlington and Filippi unless Ziegler can somehow turn it around. Submitted by: liquidassets
August 10, 2008 Manaudou squeeks in 8th to 100 back final and not looking good at the end of it.
Don't think this looks good for the 2nd fastest 400'er in the world.
Hopefully this will help Hoff maybe not having to worry about Manaudou. Who knows, maybe she will pop a big one, but I think Katie just now focuses on Pelegrini. Submitted by: rcoach
August 10, 2008 I say Adlington and Hoff Submitted by: Park528
August 10, 2008 But on the other hand, just playing devil's advocate here, she MIGHT have been holding back a little to save up just for that 400 race. It will be a good race Submitted by: Park528
August 10, 2008 pelligrini swam awful. manaudou was a disgrace. out in 2:01 and back in 2:10. once she went behind she didn't try an inch. not the attitude of a defending olympic champion. i really think she should consider why she is actually competing if she is going to behave like that.
on a positive note, becky adlington was outstanding and jo jackson! both gb girls showed some major guts and showed great spirit. Submitted by: medina
August 10, 2008 if hansen had kitjima's mentality he would be unstopable. sadly he doesn't. kitajima's focus and determination deserve major respect.
i do not see his pullout as controversial at all.
think this puts to bed 2004 though. he has proved he is the top brststoker in the world. Submitted by: medina
August 11, 2008 I'm not sure it's just mentality; I read on another thread from coaches, that Hansen's start and pullouts still need work. Kitajima is best for now; we'll see what happens in the next year or two... Submitted by: liquidassets
August 11, 2008 NBC is sure using Michael Phelps and Co. to hype their Olympic coverage. They promise live coverage in Ca. ,but it is actually delayed by many hours. Swimming west coast begins @10PM , the 400Fr relay showed after 11:30 PM. Using swimming as a bait to build their numbers, makes me feel used. If you want to let NBC know how you feel about the Olympic coverage, in particular, the much delayed SWIMMING coverage here is the NBC email address.
nbcolympicsfeedback@nbcuni.com Submitted by: AGUAFANS
August 11, 2008 Also there is discrepenancy on the NBCOlympics.com site as to when the swimming coverage officially starts EST. Submitted by: Park528
August 11, 2008 Yeah, I noticed that. Plus I think most Californians would rather the coverage start at 7pm than 10 pm anyway....a couple non-swimmer friends of mine went to bed at 11 and missed the relay last night and were pissed. Submitted by: liquidassets
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