Oly: Sullivan comes up short in bragging rights

AAP General News (Australia)
08-16-2008
Oly: Sullivan comes up short in bragging rights

By John Coomber, Senior Sports Writer

BEIJING, Aug 16 AAP - If Eamon Sullivan and Stephanie Rice get back together, best
not to mention gold medals.

While Rice has confirmed her place as Australia's darling of the Beijing Games by winning
three gold medals, Sullivan has only a slim chance of joining her as an Olympic champion.

He went into the 50m freestyle final as the world record holder, but his goggles filled
with water when he dived in and the best he could do was sixth behind Brazil's Cesar Cielo
Filho.

As Filho wept with joy on the victory dais, Sullivan was left to ponder how he had
again failed to deliver his best swims when it really mattered.

To rub salt into the wounds, Sullivan would have won if he'd reproduced his time from
the Australian trials in March.

He also went into the 100m final two days earlier holding the world record, but was
outgunned by Frenchman Alain Bernard.

"I was swimming with a little bit of blurred vision and that freaked me out a little
bit," Sullivan said after today's final.

"I rushed my race but that is no excuse.

"I still gave 100 per cent and wasn't good enough."

It was the fifth time at these Games that an Australian had lined up as world record
holder and gone under.

Sullivan's last race is the 4x100m medley relay tomorrow, the race in which Michael
Phelps is expected to win a record eighth gold medal.

While all the attention was on Phelps's Houdini-like performance in the 100m butterfly
today, Australian Andrew Lauterstein was thrilled to bits just to be part of it.

Lauterstein picked up a surprise bronze medal behind Phelps and Serbian Milorad Cavic,
whose team protested unsuccessfully that the timing mechanism was faulty and he had reached
the wall before Phelps.

"It felt like I was dreaming - words cannot comprehend how I am feeling at the moment,"

Lauterstein said.

His medal boosted Australia's tally to 22, almost half-way to the projected Australian
tally of 45 as the Games reached their mid-point.

Race walker Jarred Tallent was responsible for what might be the high point of Australia's
track and field campaign when he also won bronze in the men's 20km walk.

Elsewhere the pickings were slim.

The Hockeyroos went down 2-1 to world No.1 team Spain and will now have to beat China
to advance to the semi-finals.

The Boomers beat Russia 95-80 to stay on course for the medal matches.

Australia will now look to rowing finals and track cycling events later on the program,
and to swim team captain Grant Hackett, who is bidding to win a third consecutive 1500m
freestyle title in tomorrow night's final.

Hackett produced the second fastest swim in history in winning his heat last night,
but faces an unexpected challenge from 19-year-old Canadian Ryan Cochrane, who was within
two seconds of him in the other heat, with Russian Yuri Prilukov only a blink behind him.

The final is expected to be the fastest in Olympic history.

AAP jc/mo

KEYWORD: OLY08 AUST NIGHTLEAD

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