Aquatics Worlds Finish in Melbourne

Michael Phelps finishes with seven golds. (Melbourne 2007) (ATR) Michael Phelps finishes the FINA worlds with seven golds, and a record number of spectators are reported for the two-week event.

Michael Phelps was aiming to win eight golds in his eight swimming events, but the American men were disqualified from the 400-meter medley when Ian Crocker left the blocks .04 seconds early. Phelps’ final gold count stands at seven, with a new world record in the 400-meter individual medley.

FINA President Mustapha Larfaoui called the Championships the biggest and best in history. He noted that 215,000 spectators bought tickets, the most ever.

Australia took the last swimming gold, in the men’s 400-meter freestyle relay.

Phelps’ streak began on Tuesday when he broke Australian Ian Thorpe’s record in the 200-meter freestyle. He 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.

Australian swimmer Libby Lenton takes home five golds, more than half of her country’s total nine golds. Australia’s Libby Lenton took her fifth gold in the 50-meter freestyle. (Melbourne 2007)

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.

In the final medal count, the US finished first with 40, followed by Russia and Australia.

Croatia won the men’s water polo gold, beating Hungary 9-8 in overtime. 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 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.

Almost 2,200 athletes and 1,500 officials representing 173 countries participated 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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