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By Stephen J. Thomas
ATHENS, Greece, August 14. AFTER this morning’s prelims, teen phenom Michael Phelps said he was more concerned with getting his hand to the wall first than going for a world record.
Well, tonight it just happened that way , but when his hand slapped the pads he did both take his first step in building his Olympic gold medal collection and, at the same time, lowered his world record for the event for the fifth time since August 2002.
Tonight the 19-year-old (pictured taking a welcome drink) snipped 0.15 of a second of the time he set just last month at the US Olympic Trials in Long Beach.
Phelps was under his world record pace at every change. His splits:.
Splits:
Fly 55.57 (-0.09)
Back 1:57.10 (-0.75)
Breast 3:10.36 (-0.39)
Free: 4:08.26
2000 Olympic silver medalist Erik Vendt added a second silver to the one he earned behind Tom Dolan in Sydney. Vendt was seventh fastest qualifier for tonight’s final but powered home past Hungarian Laszlo Cseh with a strong freestyle leg to touch in 4:11.81, not far adrift of his PR 4:11.27 recorded behind Phelps when the bullet from Baltimore started his run back in 2002. World Champs silver medalist Cseh, who injured his foot only weeks ago, held on for bronze in 4:12.15.
The USA has now gone 1-2 in this event for three consecutive Olympics.
Men 400m Individual Medley Finals Final
Record Splits Name NOC Location Date
WR 4:08.41 55.66 1:57.85 3:10.75 PHELPS Michael USA Long Beach (USA) 07 JUL 2004
OR 4:11.76 58.02 2:01.12 3:13.06 DOLAN Tom USA Sydney (AUS) 17 SEP 2000
Event No: 1
Rank Lane Name NOC R.T. Time Time
Behind
1 4 PHELPS Michael USA 0.77 4:08.26
28.34 WR
50m(1) 26.42
100m(1) 55.57
29.15 150m(1) 1:26.80
31.23 200m(1) 1:57.10
30.30 250m(1) 2:33.63
36.53 300m(1) 3:10.36
36.73 350m(1) 3:39.92
29.56
2 1 VENDT Erik USA 0.70 4:11.81
28.20 3.55
50m(5) 27.35
100m(7) 58.46
31.11 150m(3) 1:31.03
32.57 200m(3) 2:02.89
31.86 250m(3) 2:37.56
34.67 300m(4) 3:14.06
36.50 350m(3) 3:43.61
29.55
3 5 CSEH Laszlo HUN 0.87 4:12.15
29.05 3.89
50m(3) 26.83
100m(2) 57.08
30.25 150m(2) 1:29.27
32.19 200m(2) 2:00.58
31.31 250m(2) 2:36.73
36.15 300m(2) 3:12.68
35.95 350m(2) 3:43.10
30.42
4 3 BOGGIATTO Alessio ITA 0.83 4:12.28
28.29 4.02
50m(7) 27.76
100m(6) 58.39
30.63 150m(4) 1:31.24
32.85 200m(4) 2:03.31
32.07 250m(4) 2:38.57
35.26 300m(3) 3:13.69
35.12 350m(4) 3:43.99
30.30
5 7 MELLOULI Oussama TUN 0.81 4:14.49
28.71 6.23 AF
50m(6) 27.45
100m(5) 58.11
30.66 150m(5) 1:31.50
33.39 200m(5) 2:03.99
32.49 250m(5) 2:39.91
35.92 300m(5) 3:16.00
36.09 350m(5) 3:45.78
29.78
6 2 KOKKODIS Ioannis GRE 0.91 4:18.60
28.92 10.34
50m(8) 27.90
100m(8) 1:00.04
32.14 150m(8) 1:33.65
33.61 200m(7) 2:06.70
33.05 250m(7) 2:42.58
35.88 300m(6) 3:19.09
36.51 350m(6) 3:49.68
30.59
7 6 MIKI Jiro JPN 0.67 4:19.97
29.03 11.71
50m(4) 27.05
100m(4) 58.02
30.97 150m(6) 1:31.76
33.74 200m(6) 2:04.75
32.99 250m(6) 2:41.63
36.88 300m(7) 3:19.73
38.10 350m(8) 3:50.94
31.21
8 8 NEDERPELT Travis AUS 0.84 4:20.08
29.19 11.82
50m(2) 26.82
100m(3) 57.17
30.35 150m(7) 1:32.33
35.16 200m(8) 2:07.33
35.00 250m(8) 2:43.59
36.26 300m(8) 3:20.05
36.46 350m(7) 3:50.89
30.84