Pereira Blazes 1:59.48, Lowers His Own South American Record in the 200 IM at Olympic Test Meet

ATHENS, June 12. SWIMMING at the Olympic Test Meet in Athens today, Brazil's Thiago Pereira broke his own South American record on the 200 IM. The 19 year-old Brazilian phenom clocked 1.59.48, and now ranks as the world's fifth all-time performer behind Michael Phelps, Jani Sievinen, Masi Rosolino, and Tamas Darnyi.

Most impressively, Pereira is neither tapered nor shaved. The Brazilian team just got back from two weeks of altitude training in Spain.

Pereira's splits:
26.40 – 56.61 (31.29) – :30.55 (33.940 – 1:59.48 (28.93)

Several other oustanding swims were recorded at the Olympic test meet:

* Poland's Pawel Korzeniowski, 19, clocked a national record 1:56.11 in the 200 fly 9SPLITS: 26.40 – 55.99 – 1:25.71 – 1:56.11) and 1:49.75 in the 200 free;

* Poland's Otylia Jedrezcjczak took the women's 200 free in 1:58.08 and the 200 fly in 2:09.40;

* Britain's Darren Mew won the men's 100m breast in 1:01.32; and

* Brazil's Joanna Marenha-Melo recorded a 4:43.59 to win the women's 400 IM.

—Marcio Menezes

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