The Hindu : Sport / Swimming : Peirsol makes a splash

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 13, 2004

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Sport - Swimming

Peirsol makes a splash

Aaron Peirsol of the United States lowered his own world record in the 200m backstroke. - AP

INDIANAPOLIS, OCT. 12. Swimming bid goodbye to its greatest champion and heralded the arrival of another as Jenny Thompson swam into retirement on a record-breaking final night at the short course World championships on Monday.

As Thompson was bidding an emotional farewell, Australia's Brooke Hanson was celebrating the greatest individual performance at this event with six gold medals. Aaron Peirsol also made his mark on the final day when he capped off the meet with two World records.

The most decorated swimmer in history with 83 international medals, including eight golds from four Olympic Games, Thompson wrote the final line in her brilliant career by taking bronze in the 100m butterfly.

Peirsol provided the crowd with the big finish it wanted, lowering his own World record in the 200m backstroke to 1min 50.52s.

Our Special Correspondent reports from Bangalore:

Poor show by Indians

Among Indian swimmers, Nisha Millet recorded a 2:08.36 in the 200m freestyle heats and finished 23rd overall in a field of 38. In the 400m freestyle, Nisha had a disappointing 4:28.37, which placed her 20th in a field of 24 and in the 100m backstroke, she clocked 1:07.08 and ended up 25 among 30. In the 100m freestyle, Nisha clocked 58.55 seconds and took the 32nd spot.

Ambica Iyengar, another swimmer from Bangalore, timed 1:00.20 and finished 40th overall in the 100m freestyle. In the 100m breaststroke, Ambica was timed at 1:18.09 for the 34th spot.

In the men's section, Rahul Batra swam the 50m butterfly in 25.96s and finished 47th and in 100m freestyle clocked 53.55s for the 52nd spot.

Thirteen-year-old Agneeshwar of Tamil Nadu clocked an impressive 1:10 in the 100m breast stroke in his maiden international outing.

The results (winners only):

Men: 50m breaststroke: 1. Brendan Hansen (U.S., 26.86s); 100m freestyle: 1. Jason Lezak (U.S., 47.97s); 100m ind. medley: 1. Peter Mankoc (Slo, 52.66); 200m backstroke: 1. Aaron Peirsol (U.S., 1:50.52, WR); 200m butterfly: 1. James Hickman (GBr, 1:53.41); 1,500m freestyle: 1. Yuri Prilukov (Rus, 14:39.16); 4x100 medley relay: 1. United States ( 3:25.09, WR). Women: 50m backstroke: 1. Haley Cope (U.S., 27.49); 50m freestyle: 1. Marleen Veldhuis (Ned, 24.41); 100m butterfly: 1. Martina Moravcova (Svk, 57.38); 200m breaststroke: 1. Brooke Hanson (Aus, 2:21.68); 200m freestyle: 1. Josefin Lillhage (Swe, 1:56.35). 2. Lindsay Benko (U.S.); 3. Dana Vollmer (U.S.).

Final medals table (read as country, gold, silver, bronze): United States 21, 10, 10; Australia 7, 15, 7; Britain 2, 3, 0; Russia 2, 0, 2; Sweden 1, 4, 4; Brazil 1, 1, 3; Germany 1, 1, 1; Netherlands 1, 0, 1; Tunisia 1, 0, 1; Japan 1, 0, 1; Slovenia 1, 0, 1; Slovakia 1, 0, 1; China 0, 2, 1; Canada 0, 1, 3; Romania 0, 1, 1; Algeria 0, 1, 0; Italy 0, 1, 0; Kazakhstan 0, 0, 2; Croatia 0, 0, 1; New Zealand 0, 0, 1. — Agencies

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