South African gold medal shatters US

The South African 4x100m freestyle relay team on Sunday celebrates after winning gold and shattering the world record in Athens. From left are Lyndon Ferns, Roland Mark Schoeman and Darian Townsend, with Ryk Neethling in the water. PHOTO: AP

One relay swimmer was posing on the starting block, flexing both arms at the crowd. Another was still in the water, climbing up on the lane line and falling over backward. It was the kind of celebration the men's freestyle relay teams from the US and Australia revel in all the time.

The Olympic stage on Sunday was all set for that, the next chapter in the storied rivalry of those countries, but this time four obscure guys from South Africa crashed the 400m freestyle relay party. They howled in joy as the rest of a stunned field tried to absorb the finish. The Americans winced at the idea of their bronze medal and consoled each other. The Australians had it even worse, reeling with a sixth-place finish. Only the Netherlands joined in the fun, rollicking in celebration of their silver medal.

"This was our day," said the South African Roland Mark Schoeman, who swam the leadoff leg that put his team in the lead from the first stroke. "As the movie says, `Any Given Sunday.' For the relay, I told the guys, `This is our Sunday.'"

But this was truly an odd Sunday in the swimming world. The victory earned the South African men their first ever swimming gold, with an unlikely team of Schoeman, Lyndon Ferns, Darian Townsend and Ryk Neethling.

Not only did the US team lose this relay for only the second time in history, but the stalwart Gary Hall Jr. was not even swimming in it, having swum so slowly in the morning heat that Neil Walker replaced him on the team.

Michael Phelps swam the second leg and watched his chances of winning seven gold medals get even steeper, though he still has as many as six races left to improve on the one gold he has won so far.

The oddities, however, only started there. The men's 100m breaststroke ended with an exuberant Kosuke Kitajima of Japan slapping the water in delight at his gold medal, while the US's Brendan Hansen, the world record holder, was crestfallen at finishing second. Hansen's teammates quickly cried foul -- claiming Kitajima did an illegal dolphin kick after his turn -- but Hansen avoided accusing Kitajima of a violation.

And just to add to the quirks, Laure Manaudou became the first French woman to win an Olympic swimming gold, with a victory in the 400m freestyle. In fact, Manaudou won France's second swimming gold ever; the first was in 1952.

In the 100m butterfly, the Australian Petria Thomas finally got the gold medal she has been chasing for three Olympics, and through three shoulder operations and a reconstructed ankle; Jenny Thompson of the US finished a distant fifth.

Kaitlin Sandeno grabbed an unlikely medal for the US, coming from behind to win a bronze in the 400m freestyle. Sandeno, swimming in four events here, has been half-jokingly called the female Michael Phelps, a comparison she dislikes. She did not much care what people were saying after her first two races, a silver-medal finish in the 400m individual medley on Saturday and this one. For Sandeno, not expected to contend in the 400m freestyle, bronze was a lovely color.

"I'm really happy," she said. "I'm 2-for-2."

Phelps also finished the day 2-for-2, but without Sandeno's smile. Phelps swam the second leg of the relay after coaches chose to place him on the team, but he hardly ended the day as its controversial figure. He swam a respectable leg, but by the time he dove in the water, South Africa had a huge lead.

Schoeman swam his 100m in 48.17 seconds, a full second faster than any of his seven competitors. He had a body-length lead in a race usually decided by millimeters. Meanwhile, the leadoff swimmer for the US, Ian Crocker, posted a terrible time, 50.05 seconds, and touched the wall in last place. Phelps pulled the team from eighth to sixth with his swim, and Walker swam furiously to get the Americans to third.

Jason Lezak dove in for the final leg with a medal in sight. He moved the US into second place by the turn but was caught down the stretch by the Netherlands' Pieter van den Hoogenband. The Dutch team celebrated its silver medal with only slightly less aplomb than the South Africans treated their gold. Van den Hoogenband leapt out of the pool to hug his teammates.

What the US coach Eddie Reese was left to explain was why Crocker was on the relay that night. Reese, who also happens to be Crocker's coach at the University of Texas, said that Crocker had been battling a sore throat, but that because Crocker has been the team's second-fastest 100m swimmer, he had earned that spot. Reese said he refused to second-guess his decision.

"Well, if somebody had told me Ian Crocker was going to go that slow, there's no way I would have believed it," Reese said, referring to Crocker's 50.05 split. "He just can't go that slow. Not in my mind, not in his mind."

When the race was over, hardly anyone dressed in US colors could believe the result. Lezak climbed out of the water slowly and put his arm around Crocker, who looked devastated.

Lezak had swum the fastest of the four, at 47.86, but lost hold of the silver medal because Van den Hoogenband tracked him down with an astonishing 46.79. Of course, Van den Hoogenband is the world record holder and defending Olympic champion at that distance.

But the Americans are used to winning this relay. They spent the past four years smarting over the Australians' victory over them in the 2000 Games. They had their eyes again trained on the Australians -- who had an awful race as well, with only the anchor leg, Ian Thorpe, swimming under 49 seconds -- and on Russia, which won the world championships last year. Russia finished fourth, and the South Africans stunned everyone.

"We didn't overlook them at all," Lezak said. "If you put all of our best swims together, we have a world record. It's all about coming together as a group of four and putting it all together."

That is what did not happen, and it stunned the swimming world -- except for the South Africans, who were too busy celebrating to think about much else.