Aug. 9, 2008
BEIJING, China - Former Auburn swimmer Kirsty Coventry became the first Tiger to win a medal at the 2008 Olympics Saturday night as she won the silver in the 400-meter individual medley, clocking a time of 4:29.89.
Her time is one of only two ever below the 4:30 mark and comes in under the old world-record time of 4:31.12 held by the United States' Katie Hoff. Australia's Stephanie Rice took gold in the event and set a new world record with a time of 4:29.45.
Coventry, a native of Zimbabwe, set a new African record with her time of 4:29.89, breaking her own previous record time of 4:34.25.
She was never lower than second place throughout the race, turning behind Rice after the opening butterfly leg and eventually briefly taking the lead following the backstroke leg. Rice re-gained the lead during the breaststroke leg and never let it go as she came in for the win.
Coventry takes the silver after sneaking into the final. She finished seventh in the preliminary, clocking a time of 4:36.43 that left her 0.53 seconds out of ninth place.
The medal is the fourth of Coventry's career as she won three (gold, silver and bronze) at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece. The silver is also the second of her career as she also earned one in the 100m backstroke in 2004.
Her performance marked her first 400m IM in an Olympic Games and the sixth different event of her Olympic career. Coventry swam the 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 100m backstroke and 200m IM at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia. She came back at the 2004 Games to compete in the 100m back, 200m back and 200m IM.
The 400m IM is the first of four events for Coventry at the 2008 Olympics. She will return to the pool Sunday morning to swim in the 100m backstroke preliminary.
Also swimming in Saturday night's session was former Auburn swimmer Mark Gangloff as he earned a spot in the 100-meter breaststroke final, clocking a 1:00.44 in the semifinal.
Gangloff finished seventh overall in the semifinal, thereby earning one of the eight spots in the final that is scheduled for Sunday night's program. The Akron, Ohio, native was tied for fifth at the turn after opening with a 28.42 in the first 50 meters, but the former Tiger came back in 32.02 to take third place in his heat.
Gangloff makes the cut after earning the final semifinal spot out of the preliminary. He swam a 1:00.71 in the preliminary session to take 16th place, just nine hundredths of a second out of 17th.
Norway's Alexander Oen posted the top time in the semifinal, touching in with an Olympic-record time of 59.16 - leading a pack of five swimmers that broke the minute mark. Joining Gangloff in the final will be U.S. teammate Brendan Hansen as he finished fifth overall with a 59.94.
It will mark the second 100m breast Olympic finals appearance for Gangloff after he finished fourth in the event at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece. Gangloff swam a time of 1:01.17 at the 2004 Games, barely missing out on a medal.
Swimming action in the 2008 Olympics continues at 5:33 a.m. CT with Sunday's preliminary session. The session features two events that will pit current, former and future Auburn swimmers against one another.
Fred Bousquet (France), Cesar Cielo (Brazil) and Matt Targett (Australia) will compete against future Tigers Adam Brown (Great Britain) and Gideon Louw (South Africa) in the 400m freestyle relay. Each of the five swimmers are part of their respective country's relay pool and are not necessarily guaranteed to swim in the heat.
Also on the program is the women's 100m backstroke, an event that will feature Coventry (Zimbabwe), Alana Dillette (Bahamas) and Margaret Hoelzer (United States). The last Tiger to take to the pool in the session will be incoming freshman Stephanie Horner (Canada) as she suits up in the 400m freestyle.
For more information on Auburn athletes at the 2008 Olympic Games, check out Auburn's Olympic Central at http://auburntigers.cstv.com/ot/olympians.html.