By Hideki Mochizuki, Swimming World Japanese Correspondent
TOKYO, Japan, April 20. THE final day of swimming at the Japanese Olympic Trials held in Tokyo witnessed another national record tumble.
In the men's 100 fly, Masayuki Kishida smashed the Japanese record with a 51.86 to defeat second-place finisher Takuro Fujii's 52.25. Both swimmers earn spots on the Beijing roster. Meanwhile, Olympic silver medalist Takashi Yamamoto saw his comeback come to an end with a fourth-place 52.62 as he fell short of representing Japan this time around.
In the women's 200 back, Hanae Itoh and Reiko Nakamura continued their battle from the 100 back. Nakamura came up with the victory in 2:08.80, just off the national record of 2:08.54. She posted splits of 30.44, 1:02.83 and 1:35.13 on the way to the victory. Itoh, meanwhile, finished second in 2:09.41.
"I am pretty happy to be able to swim the 100 and 200 in Beijing," Nakamura, a bronze medalist in the 200 in Athens, said. "I could not sustain my pace toward the end of the race, but will come back with a better color of medal from Beijing."
Megumi Taneda won the women's 200 breast in 2:24.54, while Rie Kaneto placed second in 2:26.28 as both earned a spot on the Olympic roster.
"I wanted to at least break the Japanese record," Taneda said, "but, I am relieved to have been selected."
In the men's 100 free, Hisayoshi Sato won the event in 49.70, but the top four swimmers could not reach the Olympic standard, thus eliminating Japan from participating in the 400 free relay in Beijing. Sato, however, will anchor the 400 medley relay for the Japanese.
In the men's 1500 free, Takeshi Matsuda claimed victory in 15:15.67, while Haruka Ueda earned the women's 100 free title in 55.60.
A total of 31 swimmers, including relays, earned spots on the Olympic roster, with 23 of them rookies.