Aug. 13, 2008
BEIJING, China - Earning the final spot in Wednesday night's final, Cesar Cielo took off out of lane eight and never looked back as the former Auburn swimmer and Brazilian native tied for third in the 100-meter freestyle with a South American Record time of 47.67, earning his first career Olympic medal.
Cielo was one of two Auburn swimmers competing in the event as Australia's Matt Targett, who will be a senior at Auburn in the fall, finished seventh in the race with a time of 48.20.
The race marked the third time this week that two Auburn swimmers competing in each other in an Olympic final. Targett and Fred Bousquet (France) swam against each other in the 400m freestyle relay while Kirsty Coventry (Zimbabwe) and Margaret Hoelzer (United States) competed just one lane apart in the 100m backstroke.
Cielo's bronze medal is the seventh for current and former Auburn athletes at the 2008 Olympics. It breaks the Auburn record for medals in a single Olympic Games, breaking the prior record of six at the 1984 and 2004 Games. Cielo joins Bousquet (Silver), Coventry (Silver, Silver, Silver), Hoelzer (Bronze) and Targett (Bronze) as medal winners in 2008.
A native of Sao Paulo, Brazil, Cielo went out fast in the race, turning in 22.74 seconds in third place, only a quarter second behind half-way leader Eamon Sullivan (Australia). Cielo came back in 24.93 seconds and tied with American Jason Lezak for a total time of 47.67. The time is a personal best for Cielo and breaks his South American Record time of 47.91 that he set earlier in the week as the leadoff leg of the Brazilian 400m freestyle relay team.
Targett, who entered the final as the fourth seed, swam in seventh throughout most of the race. He went out in 23.11 seconds and came back in 25.09 for a final time of 48.20, almost a full second out of first place.
France's Alain Bernard won the race in a time of 47.21, followed by Sullivan in second with a 47.32.
Cielo is the first Auburn swimmer to earn a medal in the 100m freestyle since 1984 when Rowdy Gaines took gold and fellow Tiger Per Johansson followed with a bronze.
Cielo finished his Auburn career following the 2007-08 season, opting to give up his final year of eligibility and turn professional. He finished his career a two-time NCAA Swimmer of the Year, a 10-time NCAA Champion and a 19-time SEC Champion - all Auburn records.
Thursday morning's preliminaries are shaping up to be a busy one for Auburn as 12 current, former and future Tigers will be in action.
Swimming gets started at 5:51 a.m. CT was former Tiger Jakob Andkjaer leads off a group of four Auburn swimmers in the 50m freestyle. Entering with a seed time of 22.49, Andkjaer (DenmarK) will swim in lane two in heat 10. George Bovell (Trinidad & Tobago) and Cielo (Brazil) will follow at 5:53 a.m. CT in heat 11. Bovell will swim in lane one while Cielo goes out in lane five.
Junior college transfer Gideon Louw (South Africa), who will join the Auburn swim team in the fall, will go off in heat 12, swimming in lane two.
At the 2004 Olympics, it took a 22.53 to make it to semifinals and a 22.19 to make it to finals.
Four more Tigers will follow in the 100m butterfly, starting with Jeremy Knowles (Bahamas) at 7 a.m. CT. He enters with a seed time of 54.00 and will swim in lane three in heat three. Andkjaer, who is pulling a double, will follow in lane four at 7:03 a.m. CT, swimming in lane three with a seed time of 53.53. Croatia's Alexei Puninski will go next, swimming at 7:09 a.m. CT in the sixth heat, occupying lane one with a seed time of 52.61.
Bousquet (France) will finish out the event at 7:12 a.m., swimming as the top seed in the seventh heat, swimming out of lane four with a seed time of 51.50.
At the 2004 Games, it took a 53.11 to make the semifinals and a 52.74 to make the finals.
A pair of former Tigers will get things going early in the next event, the women's 200m backstroke, with Gisela Morales (Guatemala) and Erin Volcan Smith going at 7:21 a.m. CT in the first heat. Morales will be in lane five with a seed time of 2:16.12 while Volcan will swim in lane four with a 2:14.89.
One of the feature matchups of the 200m backstroke begins at 7:33 a.m. as Coventry (Zimbabwe), a one-time world record holder in the event and defending gold medalist, goes off in lane four of the fourth heat with a seed time of 2:06.39.
Coventry is the No. 2 overall seed in the event behind former Auburn teammate Hoelzer (United States). Hoelzer will finish off the preliminary session, swimming in lane four of the fifth heat with her world record seed time of 2:06.09.
At the 2004 Olympics, it took a 2:15.01 to make the semifinals and a 2:12.62 to advance to the finals.
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.