Park Tae-hwan Takes Gold in 200-m Freestyle
Korean swimmer Park Tae-hwan shattered his own Asian record in the men's 200-m freestyle to grab the gold in the Guangzhou Asian Games on Sunday, defending the title he won four years ago in Doha, Qatar.
Park Tae-hwan reacts after winning the gold medal in the men’s 200-m freestyle at the Guangzhou Asian Games on Sunday.
At the Guangdong Olympic Aquatics Centre, Park clocked 1:44:80, 0.05 second faster than his previous record set when he captured the silver at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Park now has four career Asiad gold medals. Park was clearly a cut above the silver and bronze medalists Sun Yang of China and Japan's Takeshi Matsuda who finished with 1:46:25 and 1:47:73, respectively. Only four other swimmers have ever managed better times in the 200-m freestyle -- Michael Phelps of the U.S., Australian Ian Thorpe, Russia's Danila Izotov and Germany's Paul Biedermann who holds the current world record of 1:42:00. Park swam in lane three in the final, with Sun and China's Zhang Lin in fourth and fifth and Matsuda in second. After observing his rivals' performances in the preliminaries Sunday morning, Park planned to avoid advancing to the finals in first place because that would have put him in lane four between Zhang and Sun.At the 150-m mark in the final, his time of 1:18:03 was 0.65 second faster than his 2008 Olympic pace. He was the only swimmer in the event to manage under 26 seconds in the final 50 meters. Park rose to international stardom after winning the gold in the 400-m freestyle and the silver in the 200-m freestyle at the 2008 Olympics. However, he suffered a major disappointment at last year's World Championships in Rome when he walked away without a single medal. To bounce back, he spent six months in rigorous training under Australian coach Michael Bohl in Brisbane. After Sundays' race, Park said, "I couldn't believe my time because it was much better than I expected. After I made the turn at the 100-m point, I saw Sun chasing after me so I kept trying to pull away." "That's just one race that's over," he added. "I have six more races to go, so it's important that I maintain my form." Korea's "Marine Boy" aims to win multiple gold medals in Guangzhou. His next race is the 400-m freestyle on Tuesday, followed by the 100-m freestyle on Wednesday and Thursday's 1,500-m freestyle.
Korean swimmer Park Tae-hwan shattered his own Asian record in the men's 200-m freestyle to grab the gold in the Guangzhou Asian Games on Sunday, defending the title he won four years ago in Doha, Qatar.
Park Tae-hwan reacts after winning the gold medal in the men’s 200-m freestyle at the Guangzhou Asian Games on Sunday.
At the Guangdong Olympic Aquatics Centre, Park clocked 1:44:80, 0.05 second faster than his previous record set when he captured the silver at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Park now has four career Asiad gold medals. Park was clearly a cut above the silver and bronze medalists Sun Yang of China and Japan's Takeshi Matsuda who finished with 1:46:25 and 1:47:73, respectively. Only four other swimmers have ever managed better times in the 200-m freestyle -- Michael Phelps of the U.S., Australian Ian Thorpe, Russia's Danila Izotov and Germany's Paul Biedermann who holds the current world record of 1:42:00. Park swam in lane three in the final, with Sun and China's Zhang Lin in fourth and fifth and Matsuda in second. After observing his rivals' performances in the preliminaries Sunday morning, Park planned to avoid advancing to the finals in first place because that would have put him in lane four between Zhang and Sun.At the 150-m mark in the final, his time of 1:18:03 was 0.65 second faster than his 2008 Olympic pace. He was the only swimmer in the event to manage under 26 seconds in the final 50 meters. Park rose to international stardom after winning the gold in the 400-m freestyle and the silver in the 200-m freestyle at the 2008 Olympics. However, he suffered a major disappointment at last year's World Championships in Rome when he walked away without a single medal. To bounce back, he spent six months in rigorous training under Australian coach Michael Bohl in Brisbane. After Sundays' race, Park said, "I couldn't believe my time because it was much better than I expected. After I made the turn at the 100-m point, I saw Sun chasing after me so I kept trying to pull away." "That's just one race that's over," he added. "I have six more races to go, so it's important that I maintain my form." Korea's "Marine Boy" aims to win multiple gold medals in Guangzhou. His next race is the 400-m freestyle on Tuesday, followed by the 100-m freestyle on Wednesday and Thursday's 1,500-m freestyle.
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