Aug. 16, 2008
BEIJING, China - Three more former Auburn swimmers earned medals Saturday night at the 2008 Olympics, the final session of the swimming competition. Mark Gangloff earned gold as the United States men won the 400m medley relay while Margaret Hoelzer and Matt Targett each took silver.
Hoelzer (United States), Gangloff (United States) and Targett (Australia) all earn medals by virtue of swimming in the preliminary heat for their respective relay teams.
The three medals give Auburn a total of 13 swimming medals at the 2008 Olympics, more than doubling the former Auburn record of six medals in a single Games. The 13 medals also gives Auburn the most among all colleges and universities during the swimming portion of the Beijing Olympics.
California-Berkeley finished second to Auburn with 10 medals, followed by Texas (9), Florida (8) and Southern California (7). Other SEC schools winning swimming medals were Georgia (3) and Tennessee (2).
Auburn finishes the swimming portion of the 2008 Olympics with three gold medals, seven silver medals and three bronze medals.
The United States' women took second in the 400m medley relay with a time of 3:53.30, finishing behind Australia and its world record time of 3:52.69.
Hoelzer swam the leadoff backstroke leg on the U.S. relay in the preliminary. She clocked a split time of 59.29, the fastest backstroke split in the preliminary, to lead the Americans to the third seed in the final. She was replaced by 100m backstroke gold medalist Natalie Coughlin in the final.
In the men's 400m medley relay final, the United States took the gold with a world record time of 3:29.34, followed by Australia in second with a time of 3:30.04.
Gangloff swam the breaststroke leg on the U.S. relay in the preliminary. He swam a 1:00.35 split to help the Americans to the top overall seed in the final. He was replaced by former 100m breaststroke world record holder Brendan Hansen in the final.
Targett, who will be a senior at Auburn in the fall, swam the freestyle leg on the on the Australian relay in the preliminary. He swam a 47.41 split to give the Aussies the second seed in the final. He was replaced by 100m freestyle world record holder Eamon Sullivan in the final.
The silver medal was Hoelzer's first and the her second career medal after taking bronze earlier in the week at the 100m backstroke. For Gangloff, the gold is the second of his career after he also swam on the gold medal-winning 400m medley relay at the 2004 Olympics.
The silver was the first for Targett and his second medal of the 2008 Games after he swam the anchor on the bronze medal-winning 400m freestyle relay team last weekend.
Saturday night's finals session marked the end of the swimming competition at the 2008 Olympics. The track and field portion of the Games began Friday with 12 current and former Auburn athletes competing. 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.