ATHENS, 19 August 2004 — Pieter van den Hoogenband emerged from the shadow of Michael Phelps and Ian Thorpe, winning his second straight 100m freestyle title yesterday as two women’s world records fell in the Olympic pool.
Meanwhile, Greece’s top two sprinters pulled out of the Olympic Games after inflicting six days of embarrassment on their country in a hide-and-seek contest with anti-doping enforcers. Greece spent a record $1 billion on security for the Games, but it had no defense against what became the messiest drugs scandal to hit the Olympic movement since Ben Johnson was stripped of his 100 meters gold medal in 1988 for using drugs.
Costas Kenteris, who took gold in the 200 meters in Sydney in 2000, and teammate Katerina Thanou, who won the silver medal in the 100 meters that year, quit the competition protesting their innocence but apologizing to the Greek people.
It was a moment of catharsis. For the fifth but hopefully last day in a row, Athens had to count on the sheer thrill of sporting excellence to wash away the taste of tragedy, and it was not disappointed.
With the victory, van den Hoogenband destroyed Australian middle-distance great Thorpe’s hopes of an unprecedented 100m, 200m and 400m freestyle treble.
But history was made, as the US women’s 4x200m freestyle relay team broke the oldest swimming record on the books, erasing the last world record set by the once mighty East German swimming machine, whose achievements were later sullied by revelations of state-sponsored doping.
Natalie Coughlin, Carly Piper, Dana Vollmer and Kaitlin Sandeno won the gold in 7min 53.42sec, slicing more than two seconds off the 17-year-old world record of 7:55.47 set by the East Germans at Strasbourg, France, on Aug. 18, 1987.
Sandeno, 21, said she knew the record was old, but hadn’t really thought about the significance of wiping the last East German record off the books.
“It was the longest standing record, and that in itself is a feat,” she said. “Whether it’s tainted or not, it shows how strong we are and how much depth there is in the US team.”
A lack of historical perspective could be forgiven. After all, as Sandeno pointed out, in August 1987 “Carly and I were just four, and Dana wasn’t even born yet.”
The relay was the second world record to fall on the night, after Australian Jodie Henry clocked 53.52sec in the semifinals of the women’s 100m free to eclipse the mark of 53.66 set by compatriot Lisbeth Lenton at the Australian trials on March 31. South African Roland Schoeman took silver after being edged out in the closing meters while Thorpe was third.
Van den Hoogenband, the world record-holder, was fifth at the turn as Schoeman displayed the form that helped South Africa claim the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay gold in a world record time. Schoeman’s split of 22.60 put him under world record pace as he hit the wall ahead of relay teammate Ryk Neethling.
But van den Hoogenband, who took silver behind Thorpe in the 200m on Monday, reeled in Schoeman in the final 25m to win in 48.17sec. Japan’s Kosuke Kitajima and Poland’s Otylia Jedrzejczak added to their cache of medals.
Kitajima completed a sweep of Olympic breaststroke gold, capturing the 200m title in a Games record of 2:09.44 ahead of Hungarian teenager Daniel Gyurta.
Gyurta, 15, edged world record-holder Brendan Hansen of the United States at the finish, grabbing the silver in 2:10.80, seven-hundredths of a second in front of Hansen.
“That was all I had,” Hansen said. “I’m not going to beat around the bush.
“It’s tough because six weeks ago I went 2:09-flat. And to stand on the blocks and know I wasn’t going to be able to match that was tough to swallow.”
In contrast, Gyurta’s silver medal was beyond his wildest expectations. Jedrzejczak, silver medalist in the 400m free and 100m fly on Sunday, finally claimed the ultimate prize with her victory in the 200m butterfly.
The world record-holder and three-time European champion outdueled Austraian Petria Thomas, winning in 2:06.05.
Thomas, gold medalist in the 100m fly and 4x100m free relay, settled for silver in 2:06.36 while Japan’s Yuko Nakanishi won the bronze in 2:08.04.
Lest anyone forget about him, Phelps moved a step closer to his fourth gold medal of the games as he topped the semi-final times in the 200m individual medley in an Olympic record of 1:58.52.
