Four gold medals for the Men's 400m Individual Medley, Men's 400m Freestyle, Women's 400m Individual Medley and Women's 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay will be given out at the Water Cube tomorrow morning, Sunday, August 10. Two semi-finals, in Women's 100m butterfly and Men's 100m Breaststroke will also be staged in the morning, followed by six prelims in the evening section.
The biggest star to hit the Water Cube tomorrow is Michael Phelps of the USA, known as the 'Baltimore Bullet,' who is aiming to break US swimming great, Mark Spitz's Olympic record of seven Gold medals -- the most won by an athlete at a single Olympic Games. Phelps rewrote his own Olympic record today with a time of 4:07.82 in the prelim. The swimming superstar will look to secure his first gold medal in Beijing tomorrow.
Michael Phelps is also the swimmer to watch in the Men's 200m Freestyle prelim later that night as he continues his quest for eight Gold medals. Phelps holds the world record with a time of 1:43.86. The emerging international star Park Tae-hwan of the Republic of Korea was the bronze medalist in the event at last year's world championships behind Phelps and Pieter van den Hoogenband of the Netherlands. Peter Vanderkaay (USA) and Jean Basson (South Africa) share the third fastest time in the event in 2008. Both will pose as strong competitors in this summer's Games.
The Men's 400m Freestyle Final will be centered on Larsen Jensen (USA), Grant Hackett (AUS) and Park Tae-hwan (KOR). Jensen swam the fastest time of 3:43.10 in the prelim and will be in the middle lane (lane 4) tomorrow. Hackett, finishing first in his heat and fifth overall, said "I swam very good and I am happy with that. It is going to be interesting tomorrow morning. You just have to love how close it is." This is a golden chance for him to take back the gold medal he lost due to a shoulder injury and undiagnosed asthma four years ago in Athens. Zhang Lin from China swam his personal best of 3:43.32, five-hundredths of a second faster than Park Tae-hwan and will be competing for a medal tomorrow.
Nineteen-year-old Katie Hoff (USA) will be the highlight of the Women's 400m Individual Medley on Sunday. Her biggest challengers are fifteen-year-old teammate, the top qualifier of today's prelim, Elizabeth Beisel, previous world-record holder Stephanie Rice from Australia and former Olympic medalist Kristy Coventry from Zimbabwe.
The Women's 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay final is a virtual showdown between the Netherlands, the United States and Australia. The top two qualifiers from today's prelim, China and Germany will also be competing for a place on the podium.
The stars of the Women's 100m Butterfly include Lisbeth Trickett of Australia, her fellow Australian Jessicah Schipper, and 22-year-old Christine Magnuson of the United States.
All eyes will be on the US world-record holder Brendan Hansen and Athens gold medalist Kitajima Kosuke of Japan in the Men's 100m Breaststroke semi-final.
Current world-record holder and reigning Olympic champion Natalie Coughlin of the United States is looking to confirm her dominance in the Women's 100m Backstroke on Sunday with a win at the National Aquatics Center. Coughlin's teammate Margaret Hoelzer holds the third fastest time in 2008 and will challenge Coughlin for the gold. Silver medalist from Athens 2004 Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe and bronze medalist Laure Manaudou of France will also be top contenders.
Leisel Jones of Australia has been dominant in the Women's Breaststroke since 2005 and will continue her campaign in the Women's 100m Breaststroke. This breaststroke talent is the world record holder and the reigning world champion and holds the fastest time of the year at 1:05.34. There will be immense pressure on Jones to continue her dominance in the Breastroke. Jone's main challengers will be Rebecca Soni and Megan Jendrick of Team USA.
In the Men's 100m Backstroke, famous American backstroker Aaron Peirsol is the gold favorite. Peirsol is the reigning Olympic champion and the reigning world champion as well as the current world record holder in the event. Matthew Grevers of USA and the Athens Silver medalist Markus Rogan of Austria also stand a chance for a medal. Other strong contenders include Liam Tancock of Great Britain, Helge Meeuw of Germany and Ashley Delaney of Australia.
Federica Pellegrini of Italy will take to the National Aquatics Center pool on Sunday with her sights set on defending the Women's 400m Freestyle crown despite challenger Katie Hoff (USA) breathing down her neck. Pellegrini currently holds the world record of 4:01.53 and has been in good form this year. Kate Ziegler of the USA and Rebecca Adlington of Great Britain will also be competing for Gold. The unpredictable ex-world-record holder Manadou cannot be discounted in this event despite the fact that she has yet to record a top 10 time in the event this year.
The USA Men's 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay team are the two-time reigning world champions and have a strong pedigree in the event; they hold the world record of 3:12.46 set by Michael Phelps, Neil Walker, Cullen Jones, and Jason Lezak. Challengers to the United States include the French team lead by 100m Freestyle world record holder Alain Bernard and the defending Olympic champions, the South African team with experienced Ryk Neethling and Roland Schoeman leading the team. The Australian team lacks experience but they will be led by the speedy Eamon Sullivan who was just a fraction of a second behind Bernard in competition.
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