Gaffe Almost Sinks Trickett

Sydney Morning Herald

Friday August 15, 2008

Michael Cowley with AAP

AUSTRALIAN coach Alan Thompson insists it wasn't cockiness but conceded it was "misjudgment" that almost cost world record holder Libby Trickett her place in today's women's 100-metres freestyle final.

Trickett clocked the ninth-fastest time in the semi-finals, a leisurely 54.10 seconds compared with her record of 52.88, but sneaked into the final when China's Pang Jiaying was disqualified for a false start.

While there was no question the Chinese swimmer left the blocks early, there were some anxious moments for Trickett.

As she has done so often, Trickett chose to wear a previous, and obviously not as fast, version of the Speedo suit instead of the latest LZR Racer.

It was a decision that almost proved very costly. As she climbed from the pool, she took a huge gulp and stared up at the scoreboard in bewilderment.

Trickett would have been thinking back four years when - again as the world-record holder - she swam in the first semi-final, posted a slower than expected time, then watched Jodie Henry break her record before finding out she was ninth overall and out of the final.

"She's good now, she's got herself together and she's ready to roll, which is good," Thompson said.

"I think, as with a lot of people here, sometimes they might take things a little too easy, and the heats and semis are just crackerjack fast. Maybe there was a misjudgment this morning and the gods have smiled nicely upon us."

Thompson denied the switch to the slower suit was overconfidence on Trickett's part. "I think previously that might have been OK to do [wearing older suits]. But we've seen such fast times, and sometimes the heat times and the semi-final times can't be repeated in the finals."

Another question was whether Trickett had struggled to come down from the high of winning her first individual Olympic gold in the 100 butterfly on Monday.

In Athens, she won gold in a relay before bombing out of the 100 freestyle.

"It certainly is something that we as a team have addressed since I've been head coach," Thompson said.

"We have worked to maintain evenness of emotions, but I think what you see is you get highs and lows early in the meet, but when you get to this stage, the highs are higher and the lows are lower and it takes even more work to maintain that evenness of emotions.

"Who knows? I think we've got to be thankful we got her there [into the final]."

There were no such problems for world record holder and gold medal favourite Leisel Jones as she breezed into the 200 breaststroke final, qualifying second fastest behind American Rebecca Soni.

Like Cate Campbell in the 100 freestyle semis, Sally Foster failed to take the next step to the 200 breaststroke final, finishing fifth behind Jones in the semi-final.

Kylie Palmer, a gold medallist in the 4x200 freestyle relay earlier in the day, continued her fine form by breaking the longest-standing Australian record in qualifying fifth for the 800 freestyle final in eight minutes, 22.81 seconds, wiping just over .10 off Julie McDonald's national record set at Seoul in 1988.

In a big shock, US pair Kate Ziegler and Katie Hoff both failed to reach the final.

Australia's Andrew Lauterstein (51.37) was sixth-quickest in the 100 butterfly heats as Michael Phelps powered in second place with a 50.87.

Veteran Adam Pine (52.07) agonisingly missed the semi-finals by just .02.

Olympic rookie Meagen Nay (2:08.79) eased into the semi-finals of the 200 backstroke in third place with fellow debutante Belinda Hocking (2:09.54) 11th.

© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald

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