U.S. women smash oldest relay record

By DAVID WOODS

The Indianapolis Star

ATHENS, Greece - The world record was like graffiti on a masterpiece, a reminder of a sport's dark past.

Since international swimming introduced an 800-meter freestyle relay for women in 1982, the only nation to hold the record was East Germany. The 1987 record of 7 minutes, 55.47 seconds was the oldest in the sport, set via a systematic doping program that was revealed after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

That the record stood, year after year, burned those trying to keep the sport clean.

``It burned people a lot,'' U.S. coach Mark Schubert said. ``We all know the reason why, and we're very proud to have that back.''

One night after Americans buzzed about a dramatic victory over Australia in the men's 800 freestyle relay, they celebrated a Wednesday blowout.

Natalie Coughlin gave the United States a 2-second lead on the opening leg, and three teammates followed through to crush the record with a time of 7:53.42.

The race was so fast that the top four teams were under the Olympic record of 7:57.80 set by the United States in 2000.

Elsewhere, Australia's Jodie Henry set a world record in the semifinals of the women's 100-meter freestyle and Dutchman Pieter van den Hoogenband repeated as champion of the men's 100 freestyle.

Japan's Kosuke Kitajima completed a sweep of the breaststrokes. Aaron Peirsol set an Olympic record in the semifinals of the 200-meter backstroke.Oh yes, and Michael Phelps. He set an Olympic record in the 200-meter individual medley and will seek his fourth gold and sixth medal in Thursday night's final.

The four finals Wednesday featured medalists from nine countries and five continents, but it was the relay that represented a momentous occasion in swimming. Coughlin, Carly Piper, 16-year-old Dana Vollmer and Kaitlin Sandeno brought the session to a star-spangled finish.

Sandeno said the marshal escorting her to drug testing mentioned that the mark the team had broken was a tainted one.

``Going into the meet, I had no idea it was an East German record,'' Coughlin said. ``I just knew we were close to it last year.''

In the 2003 World Championships, where Coughlin became ill and didn't swim in the relay, the United States came within 23-hundredths of a second of the record.

``I was so jealous,'' she said.

The race was so important that she confined her program to two individual events so she could swim three relays. She has a gold medal from the 100 backstroke, a silver from the 400 freestyle relay and could leave Athens with five medals. She qualified third in Wednesday's semifinals of the 100 freestyle.

She followed a conservative plan in the 800 freestyle relay - she was sixth after 100 meters - but closed so swiftly that her time of 1:57.74 was faster than the gold-winning time in the 200 freestyle.

No regrets about selection of events, she said.

``I wasn't going to have two mediocre swims. I wanted to have one really good swim,'' she said.

These Olympics will not end so satisfyingly for Brendan Hansen, who kept his breaststroke records but lost twice to Kitajima, who set an Olympic record of 2:09.44 at 200 meters.

Hansen faded at the finish and was third behind Daniel Gyrta, 15, of Hungary.

A bronze was precious to Ian Thorpe, who became the first Australian to win an Olympic medal in the 100 freestyle. It was his fourth medal of these Olympics and ninth of his career.

Van den Hoogenband's time was 48.17, or the same that Jason Lezak recorded at July's U.S. Olympic Trials. Lezak was 21st Tuesday in preliminaries.The outcome was similarly disastrous for Australia's Libby Lenton in the women's 100 freestyle. Not only was her world record broken by a countrywoman, but Lenton did not make the final.

Henry's time of 53.52 trimmed .14 from the record set by Lenton on March 31.

Phelps was well off his world record of 1:55.94 in the 200 IM, settling for 1:58.52. He acknowledged the hardest part of his Olympics is over.

``I'm having a blast,'' he said. ``This is a lifetime dream for me.''

Phelps will go for gold in each of the final three days of swimming: the 200 IM Thursday night, 100 butterfly Friday and 400 medley relay Saturday. He already has five medals, three of them gold.