Michael Phelps may take eight golds. (Melbourne 2007)(ATR) Michael Phelps is set to break a medal count record in the FINA World Championships, while Hungary and Croatia advance to the men’s water polo finals.
American Michael Phelps has taken gold in all six events he has tried so far. This medal haul ties him with Ian Thorpe’s record for number of golds at a World Championship. Phelps, however, still has two more races scheduled for the last day at International Aquatics Federation worlds at Melbourne.
One day after breaking Australian Ian Thorpe’s record in the 200-meter freestyle on Tuesday, Phelps won gold in the 200-meter butterfly on Wednesday. In the process, he beat his own world record by 1.62 seconds. He followed that with another world record in the 200-meter individual on Thursday. Number five came with the Americans’ world-record performance in the 800-meter freestyle relay. The 100-meter butterfly on Saturday was number six. He has broken 19 individual records in his career.
Phelps isn't the only American swimmer to have success at the world championships. Ryan Lochte earned a world record in the 200-meter backstroke, then added another record by participating in the 800-meter freestyle relay. The 4-man team broke the old record time set by Australia at the 2001 worlds. And the U.S. women's 800-meter freestyle team broke that record as well.
Swimming events began March 25 in the Rod Laver Arena. Better known as the venue for the Australian Open tennis match, the arena has been turned into a temporary swimming pool.
South Korea took its first-ever FINA World Championship gold with Park Tae Hwan’s win in men’s 400 m freestyle on Sunday.
Men’s water polo finals will see Croatia face Hungary on April 1. On the women’s side, the USA team won gold, topping Australia 6-5.
Open water swimmers were plagued by stinging jellyfish throughout the week and rough weather hit St. Kilda Beach this past weekend.
The women’s 25 km open water swimming was struck by high winds and rough seas, making the course too dangerous. FINA officials Guo Jingjing becomes the only diver to win four consecutive World Championship golds in solo events. (Melbourne 2007)decided to cut the race at the midpoint on March 24, with swimmers completing the second 12.5 km the next day. Britta Kamrau-Corestein of Germany took the gold, but she and other swimmers expressed confusion about the decision to divide the race.
Egyptian swimmer Mohamed Zanaty won the country’s first-ever FINA World Championship medal with a bronze in the last open water event, the men’s 25 km.
The 10 km open water swimming event will debut as an Olympic event in Beijing next year.
China dominated the ten diving events, taking nine golds. Star diver Guo Jingjing broke a world championships record becoming the first diver to win four consecutive individual golds.
The synchronized swimming program has finished with Russia taking gold in six of the seven events.
Diving finals were a sell-out, but tickets are still available for swimming and water polo finals. Tickets to the April 1 swimming finals cost $40 – $160.
Almost 2,200 athletes and 1,500 officials representing 173 countries are participating in the competition.
This year’s event will be the first to offer prize money for medalists. A total purse of $2 million will be spread across the five disciplines. In addition, anyone who breaks a world record will receive a bonus of $25,000.
Two members of the Russian squad have had a bad time with Australian law enforcement. A 14-year-old swimmer was detained and reprimanded for shoplifting earlier in the month and diving coach Vladimir Rulev is facing charges of assault on a hotel worker. Rulev is out on bail and is barred from leaving the country.
A free street festival attracted about 200,000 revelers over last weekend, despite a little rain. More than 200 performers and artists took part in the FINA World Championships Festival Weekend held at Federation Square and Birrarung Marr Park along the Yarra River.
The March 17 opening ceremony featured a tribute to retired swimming legend Ian Thorpe of Australia along with performances by Australian bands, comedians and dancers. Canadian representatives also brought a vial of water from the previous championship pool – in Montreal – to pour into the pool at the Rod Laver Arena.
The FINA championships finish on April 1. Rome will host the 2009 event, followed by Shanghai in 2011. The Chinese city was selected as the host this past weekend by the ruling FINA Bureau.
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