Sports
Beijing 2008
Rice rips WR apart
Ap, Beijing
SPLIT DID THE TRICK? Aussie darling in the pool Stephanie Rice weds in glory after a daring smash and grab raid to claim the Olympic 400 metres individual medley gold in world record time at Beijing's magnificent 'Water Cube' yesterday. Photo: AFPStephanie Rice has already received plenty of attention for her high-profile relationship with fellow swimmer Eamon Sullivan. Now the Australian is in the spotlight for a different reasonshe's an Olympic champion.Rice took the world record back from Katie Hoff of the United States and won the 400-meter individual medley Sunday in her Olympic debut.“What happens outside the pool is no one else's business,” Rice said. “This is something I've really been looking forward to since I was a young girl.”Rice touched in 4:29.45, slicing nearly two seconds off the record Hoff set at the U.S. trials in June. Swimming in lane 1, Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe also went under the old mark and took silver in 4:29.89, while Hoff had to settle for third in 4:31.71.“I didn't really see Kirsty on the other side of the pool, but I gave everything I possibly had at the end,” Rice said. “It wasn't about getting the world record back. It's about the Olympics and an opportunity that you don't get very often.”The victory was also Australia's 400th medal at the Summer Games.“Someone had told me at the beginning of the meet that whoever gets the first (medal) is Australia's 400th and I thought, 'Wow, that's an amazing honor,'” Rice said.“I thought I had a pretty good chance of getting in contention with that, but seeing Hackett and his race before, I thought he may have had a shot, and I didn't know about the other sports. So it was something I didn't really think about until after the race.”Immediately before Rice's race, Australian veteran Grant Hackett finished a disappointing sixth in the 400 freestyle, which was won by Park Tae-hwan of South Korea.The now-retired Ian Thorpe won the 400 at the past two Olympics, and Hackett was under pressure to extend the Australian tradition.“It wasn't what I was looking for. I just didn't have the speed,” said Hackett, who will go for an unprecedented third straight victory in the 1,500 free later on at these games.Rice also won Australia's first gold at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, where she met Sullivan, the current 50-meter freestyle world record holder.The couple posed in a widely publicized underwear shoot earlier this year, then announced last month that they were separating by changing their relationship entries on the social Web site Facebook.“We both mutually agreed that being together is something that probably won't work during this month, and decided to have a break,” Sullivan said at Australia's pre-Olympic camp.The move has already paid off for Rice, who is gaining a reputation of a big-meet swimmer.“I definitely sort of swim best when I'm nervous and excited and up emotionally,” she said. “I'm definitely an emotional swimmer. I don't swim well at the little meets because there's just no excitement, I'd rather not be there.“When the pressure is on, I know that everything I've trained for is coming out. That's what I wanted to know, that I prepared well.”Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was in attendance at the Water Cube, and personally congratulated Rice after the victory.Coventry added to her three-medal haul from Athens four years ago.“Ironically, I won my first medal in Athens in lane 1 in the 100 backstroke, and now here too,” Coventry said, showing no disappointment about not winning. “It's a tough race to finish and Stephanie was just better finishing. I'm very happy with my time.”
One of several CNG filling stations between Kanchpur Bridge and Jatrabari of the capital which BNP big shots built on the Kutubkhali canal, drastically reducing Dhaka's drainage capability. PHOTO: STAR
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Beijing 2008
Rice rips WR apart
Ap, Beijing
SPLIT DID THE TRICK? Aussie darling in the pool Stephanie Rice weds in glory after a daring smash and grab raid to claim the Olympic 400 metres individual medley gold in world record time at Beijing's magnificent 'Water Cube' yesterday. Photo: AFPStephanie Rice has already received plenty of attention for her high-profile relationship with fellow swimmer Eamon Sullivan. Now the Australian is in the spotlight for a different reasonshe's an Olympic champion.Rice took the world record back from Katie Hoff of the United States and won the 400-meter individual medley Sunday in her Olympic debut.“What happens outside the pool is no one else's business,” Rice said. “This is something I've really been looking forward to since I was a young girl.”Rice touched in 4:29.45, slicing nearly two seconds off the record Hoff set at the U.S. trials in June. Swimming in lane 1, Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe also went under the old mark and took silver in 4:29.89, while Hoff had to settle for third in 4:31.71.“I didn't really see Kirsty on the other side of the pool, but I gave everything I possibly had at the end,” Rice said. “It wasn't about getting the world record back. It's about the Olympics and an opportunity that you don't get very often.”The victory was also Australia's 400th medal at the Summer Games.“Someone had told me at the beginning of the meet that whoever gets the first (medal) is Australia's 400th and I thought, 'Wow, that's an amazing honor,'” Rice said.“I thought I had a pretty good chance of getting in contention with that, but seeing Hackett and his race before, I thought he may have had a shot, and I didn't know about the other sports. So it was something I didn't really think about until after the race.”Immediately before Rice's race, Australian veteran Grant Hackett finished a disappointing sixth in the 400 freestyle, which was won by Park Tae-hwan of South Korea.The now-retired Ian Thorpe won the 400 at the past two Olympics, and Hackett was under pressure to extend the Australian tradition.“It wasn't what I was looking for. I just didn't have the speed,” said Hackett, who will go for an unprecedented third straight victory in the 1,500 free later on at these games.Rice also won Australia's first gold at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, where she met Sullivan, the current 50-meter freestyle world record holder.The couple posed in a widely publicized underwear shoot earlier this year, then announced last month that they were separating by changing their relationship entries on the social Web site Facebook.“We both mutually agreed that being together is something that probably won't work during this month, and decided to have a break,” Sullivan said at Australia's pre-Olympic camp.The move has already paid off for Rice, who is gaining a reputation of a big-meet swimmer.“I definitely sort of swim best when I'm nervous and excited and up emotionally,” she said. “I'm definitely an emotional swimmer. I don't swim well at the little meets because there's just no excitement, I'd rather not be there.“When the pressure is on, I know that everything I've trained for is coming out. That's what I wanted to know, that I prepared well.”Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was in attendance at the Water Cube, and personally congratulated Rice after the victory.Coventry added to her three-medal haul from Athens four years ago.“Ironically, I won my first medal in Athens in lane 1 in the 100 backstroke, and now here too,” Coventry said, showing no disappointment about not winning. “It's a tough race to finish and Stephanie was just better finishing. I'm very happy with my time.”
One of several CNG filling stations between Kanchpur Bridge and Jatrabari of the capital which BNP big shots built on the Kutubkhali canal, drastically reducing Dhaka's drainage capability. PHOTO: STAR
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