Swimmers shine at the 2012 London Olympic Games – Part 2
After the scintillating form of Dana Vollmer in the semi-finals of Women’s 100m butterfly, Men’s 400m freestyle became the centre of attention for everyone.
The 400m swim was third event of the first night and featured strong competition between Sun Yang, Park Taehwan, and Peter Vanderkaay. China’s Yang was the top contender for gold medal as he made his way into the playoff with a fastest qualification effort.
The 20-year-old Yang, who holds the world record of the 1500m freestyle, geared up his efforts in the 400m discipline and upset the defending champion, Taehwan by occupying gold medal.
Yang not only dethroned the Korean from his pet event but also reached the finishing blockade in a new Olympic record time of 3 minutes and 40.14 seconds. His immaculate effort remained just a touch slower from Paul Biedermann’s world record of 3 minutes
and 40.07 seconds.
The champion was followed by Korean rival, Taehwan, who stayed considerably slower form him over the finishing end and tapped the wall with an effort of 3 minutes and 42.06 seconds. He was also in a considerable lead over his closest competitor, Vanderkaay
of USA, who captured bronze medal of the discipline by reporting a time of 3 minutes and 44.69 seconds.
Fourth position of the race was obtained by Yang’s teammate, Yun Hao, who hit the wall with the timing of 3 minutes and 46.02 seconds. Unfortunately, the record holder of the event, Biedermann, failed to substantiate his efforts and was unable to qualify
in the final round.
Yang was overjoyed with his unmatchable pace and sent an alarming message to his opponents for the forthcoming swimming events as he was just an inch slower from the world record.
Following that, the crowd witnessed remarkable sprints of Ye Shiwen and Elizabeth Beisel in the Women’s 400m Individual Medley (IM). The 16-year-old Shiwen shattered hopes of her challengers in the distant IM discipline as she gained gold medal of the discipline.
With her relentless efforts, she not only upset her opponents but also lowered the world mark of the event by submitting a phenomenal time of 4 minutes and 28.43 seconds. The champion was followed by Beisel, who remained nearly three body lengths behind
and hit the finishing blockade with the timing of 3 minutes and 31.27 seconds for silver medal.
Afterwards, another Chinese swimmer, Li Xuanxu stifled hopes of her challengers as she surfaced on the finishing end for third best position of the discipline by submitting a time of 4 minutes and 32.91 seconds.
Xuanxu was followed by Katinka Hosszu of Hungary, who stayed half body length behind and transpired on the finishing blockade as fourth fastest swimmer by producing a time of 4 minutes and 33.49 seconds.
Hosszu was chased by Hannah Miley of Great Britain, who was the only swimmer of the host nation to qualify for the playoff. Miley remained almost 0.70 seconds slower from her former finisher and touched the finishing blockade as fifth fastest swimmer by
touching the wall with the timing of 4 minutes and 34.17 seconds.
In addition, the arena was impressed with the laudable effort of teenage Chinese swimmer on the biggest stage of sports and said that she would try to perform better at the forthcoming swimming championships.
To be continued in Part 3.
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