Aug. 12, 2008
BEIJING, China - Former Auburn swimmer Kirsty Coventry led the way Tuesday night at the 2008 Olympics as she earned her third silver medal of the Games. Cesar Cielo and Matt Targett also had big swims in the session as the pair qualified for Wednesday's 100-meter freestyle final.
Coventry, a native of Zimbabwe, clocked a time of 2:08.59 in the 200m individual medley final, coming in under the old world record time of 2:08.92. Australia's Stephanie Rice retained her world record by breaking it by more than a half second, taking first in the race with a time of 2:08.45.
Coventry was in the fifth following the butterfly, but took over the lead during the backstroke. She led at the halfway point and after the 150-meter mark, but Rice caught up to her in the final 25 meters of the freestyle leg to overtake the lead and snatch away the gold medal.
It was the second time this week for Rice to sneak up on Coventry to take away the gold. In Saturday's 400m IM, Coventry led at the midway point, but Rice came from behind to take the lead in the last half of the race to leave the silver medal for Coventry.
It marks her third medal in the 2008 Olympics for Coventry after she finished second in the 400m IM on Saturday and then posted a runner-up finish on Monday in the 100m backstroke. The medal is also the second of her career in the 200m IM as she won bronze at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece.
Coventry how has six career Olympic medals, doubling the former Auburn record of three medals held by Rowdy Gaines and Per Johansson.
Prior to Coventry's silver-medal swim, a pair of Tigers found their way into the final of one of swimming's premier events.
For the third time this week, a pair of Auburn swimmers will compete against each other in an Olympic final Targett (Australia) and Cielo (Brazil) both qualified for the final in the 100-meter freestyle, finishing fourth and eighth, respectively, in the semifinal.
Earlier in the week, Targett swam on the Australian 400m freestyle relay team, competing two lanes over from former Tiger Fred Bousquet and the French relay team. Bousquet earned a silver in the event while Targett and the Aussies took bronze.
A pair of Tigers again earned medals Monday night as former teammates Coventry and Margaret Hoelzer went head-to-head in the 100m backstroke final. Coventry came away with the silver medal in the event while Hoelzer settled for bronze.
Targett advanced to the semifinal after finishing 12th in the preliminary and swam almost a half-second better than his personal best time leading into the Olympics, clocking a 47.88 to earn a finals spot. He remained in third throughout most of the semifinal race, going out in 22.98 seconds and coming back in 24.90 to finish 0.83 seconds out of first place.
Swimming in the second of the two heats, Targett swam against fellow Australian Eamon Sullivan, who set a new world record in the event with a time of 47.05. Sullivan will be the No. 1 seed in Wednesday night's final.
Finishing just minutes before Targett was Cielo as he clocked a 48.07 to finish fifth in his heat - putting him near the cutline for the final. Cielo was able to squeak his way into the final as he snagged the eighth and final spot. He went out in 22.62 seconds and turned in second place, but fell off some in the final 50 meters, clocking a 25.45 to drop to fifth in his heat.
Cielo's 48.07 comes in just short of his personal-best time of 47.91 that he set as the leadoff leg of the Brazilian 400m free relay team earlier in the week.
This will be the second final for Targett in the 2008 Olympics, following his 400m free relay appearance, and the first for Cielo.
The Auburn duo will swim just one lane apart in Wednesday night's final. Targett, who will be a senior at Auburn in the fall, will swim in lane six while Cielo occupies lane eight.
Rounding out the Auburn contingent in Tuesday night's session was former Auburn swimmer Eric Shanteau
Shanteau missed out on a trip to the finals as he finished 10th in the 200-meter breaststroke semifinal. He clocked a personal-best time of 2:10.10, leaving himself 0.13 seconds out of eighth place.
Shanteau, a native of Lilburn, Ga., captured the nation's attention after the U.S. Olympic Trials when he announced that he had been diagnosed with testicular cancer. He made the decision to put off treatment in order to pursue his dream of competing at the Olympics.
Swimming in the second of the two semifinal heats, Shanteau finished sixth but was behind from the start. Going out in 30.08 seconds, he was in seventh after the first turn and moved up to fifth following a 33.24 split in the second 50 meters. He settled into sixth place in the second half of the race, clocking back-to-back splits of 33.39 seconds.
Japan's Kosuke Kitajima won the semifinal, posting an Olympic-record time of 2:08.61 to earn the top overall seed heading into the final. Shanteau's United States teammate Scott Spann clocked a 2:09.08 to finish third in the race. The eighth and final spot went to France's Hugues Duboscq after he came in with a time of 2:09.97. Coventry was in the middle of the pack following the butterfly, but took over the lead during the backstroke. She maintained the lead during the breaststroke, but Rice came up from behind in the final 25 meters to take over the lead and get the gold.
Heading into the fifth day of swimming competition at the 2008 Olympics, four former and future Auburn swimmers will be in action in Wednesday's preliminary session.
Incoming freshman Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace gets things started at 5:39 a.m. CT as she competes in the 100m freestyle prelim. Wallace will swim in the third heat, occupying lane four, and enters with a seed time of 56.01.
Former Auburn swimmers get in on the action beginning at 6:22 a.m. CT as two are set to compete in the men's 200m individual medley preliminary. Nick Bovell (Trinidad & Tobago) goes first in heat two, swimming in lane two, with a seed time of 2:03.02. Jeremy Knowles (Bahamas) follows in heat three, occupying lane eight, with a seed time of 2:02.79.
Rounding out the Auburn contingent in the session will be incoming freshman Stephanie Horner. She is part of the pool of swimmers available for the Canadian 800m freestyle relay. Canada is scheduled to swim at 7:06 a.m. CT, going in lane one in the first heat. The team enters with a seed time of 8:04.19.
For more information on the 2008 Olympics, check out the official Olympics Web site at http://en.beijing2008.cn/ or go to Auburn Olympics Central at http://auburntigers.cstv.com/ot/olympians.html.