- GUANGZHOU, China: Olympic champion Park Tae-hwan led from start to finish to set an Asian record in the men’s 200-meter freestyle at the Guangzhou Asian Games, giving South Korea its first gold at the pool at the games.
The Beijing Olympics 400 freestyle champion shouted and punched his left fist in the air in celebration after shaving 0.05 seconds off his own Asian record of 1 minute and 44.85 seconds on Sunday night. Park has been trying to find form again after failing to qualify for the 400 final at the world championships in Rome last year.
Park’s win marked the first swimming gold that didn’t to China or Japan.
