British Adlington beats US Hoff in women's 400 freestyle
11/8/2008 17:22
The gold quest of US swimmer Katie Hoff in Beijing met another setback
this morning as Britain's Rebecca Adlington touched the wall first at the last
moment, snatching the gold of women's 400-meter freestyle.
With a solid
start, Hoff managed to pull away from the field after the 200-meter turn.
Adlington caught up and the two swam stroke by stroke in the last 50 meters.
Amid thundering roars of the spectators, Adlington touched the wall first in
4:03.22, only 0.07 seconds ahead of Hoff.
"I couldn't really see the rest of
the pool, all I could see was Katie USA," a happy Adlington said after the
race.
Adlington's teammate Joanne Jackson won bronze in 4:03.52. "We were
both so happy. Two British girls on the podium, what more could you ask for?"
Adlington said.
Hot favorite Hoff seemed a little bit disappointed with a
silver. "I felt like I should have got my hand on the wall first. I gave it
everything I had possibly, but they got me on the end."
Hoff was widely
expected to sweep golds in the Beijing Games as her "pseudo big brother" Michael
Phelps would do. Four years ago, 15-year-old Hoff made her Olympic debut and was
too unnerved to perform normally and went back home empty handed. She has said
that her Athens experiences have prepared well for the Beijing Games.
Dispite
diappointment, Hoff said she had no regrets. "I would have loved to have touched
first, but there was nothing much more I could do. It was a good race out there,
and the silver medal is one step up from bronze." Hoff won a bronze in
yesterday's women's 400 individual medley.
Reigning world champion Italy's
Federica Pellegrini ended up fifth. Pellegrini broke the Olympic record in
yesterday's heats and entered the final as the fastest. She blamed the change of
schedule for her failure.
"I didn't know what happened. I just couldn't get
myself into shape. We Italians haven't got used to the competition in the
morning. We never practised that. But whatever, we will continually do our
best."
Swimming finals were traditionally held at night. In the Beijing
Games, the finals were moved to the morning by the IOC as requested by major TV
broadcasters.
Athens Olympic champion Laure Manaudou finished
last.
Xinhua
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