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Manaudou in tears after 400m defeat

France’s Laure Manaudou competes in the 200m freestyle at the French Swimming Championships yesterday in Dunkirk, France. The event is part of the qualifying stage for the 2008 Olympics. PHOTO: AFP

Olympic and world champion Laure Manaudou was reduced to tears on Monday after suffering her first defeat in the 400m in nearly four years at the French national championships.

Manaudou, 21, finished just third in the event in which she won gold in Athens four years ago, behind Romanian Camelia Potec and Coralie Balmy, who took the national title. The French swimmer had not been beaten over her favorite distance since June 2004.

“It’s tough. Above all being beaten. I can only say one thing, I’m waiting for the new Arena suit,” Manaudou said after the race.

Under contract with Arena, Manaudou does not have the new record-breaking swimsuit of rival sponsors including Speedo, which are considered to give swimmers an advantage. But Olympic 200m freestyle champion Potec was also wearing an old-style Arena suit as she blew away the two-time world champion over the distance.

“I can only say one thing, I’m waiting for the new Arena suit,” Manaudou said afterwards.

Manaudou, who lost her world record last month to Italy’s Federica Pellegrini (4:01.53), nevertheless booked her spot for the Olympics with her time of 4 minutes, 6.67 seceonds. Manaudou was leading going into the final 100m before Potec, who has been coached for the past year by Manaudou’s ex-mentor Philippe Lucas, produced a storming finish to touch first in 4:06.08.

Potec did not win the title because she is not French, with Balmy taking the honors by finishing second in 4:06.41. After the medals ceremony, Manaudou did not take part in the photo session with Potec and Balmy as she was comforted in the stands by her parents.

Speedo’s record-breaking suit may have got the backing of swimming’s world governing body, but it has caused a tidal wave of controversy as athletes battle to book their spot in the Beijing Olympics.

The choice is clear — risk wearing a swimsuit that might be slower than your competitors, or break with your sponsor and bid for Olympic gold wearing Speedo’s LZR Racer.

Since it was introduced in February, 19 long-course world records have been set, all but one of those by a swimmer wearing the LZR. Manaudou and Italy’s 100m freestyle world champion Filippo Magnini are just two swimmers who are with rival sponsors Arena.

But the fear of missing out on an Olympic berth has lead some hopefuls to consider jumping ship.

French sprinter Fabien Gilot, one of the leading rivals of world record holder, and compatriot, Alain Bernard in the 100m freestyle, has already made up his mind what he will do.

“[I] didn’t work hard to be beaten by equipment,” said the Frenchman, who is also bidding to clinch a place for Beijing during the French championships in Dunkirk this week.

“It’s sure that we’re not on the same footing ... it’s as if you lined out a 100m sprinter in athletics with studs and the other in baseball boots. I’m not training to be second. Today I’m swimming in Arena. But I won’t lie to you, maybe tomorrow I’ll line out in the semi-final, the heats or the final in something else. If I’m second or even if I don’t take a place in the 100m at the Olympic Games by some hundreds of a second and ahead of me is a Tyr or Speedo suit maybe I’ll regret it [swimming in Arena],” he said.

Gilot said he was prepared to risk a fine.

“I’m not Laure Manaudou. I don’t have a contract which is worth millions. If tomorrow I decide to swim in Tyr or in Speedo, with my club we’re ready for the legal battle. I earn 4,500 euros [US$7,130] a year with Arena. If they want it back, that won’t change my life,” he said.
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