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By Stephen J. Thomas
ATHENS, Greece. August 17. WORLD record-holder Michael Phelps added a second gold medal to his collection when he touched in 1:54.04 to win the 200m fly.
Phelps, who led the entire way, was under world record pace for the first half of the race but visably tightened with twenty-five meters to swim. Holding strong, he recorded history's second fastest time to beat Japan's faast-closing Takashi Yamamoto in an Asian record 1:54.56. Brit, Stephen Parry, who was second through the final turn, finished third in 1:55.52, a Commonwealth record.
"I was really hurting on the third lap. I knew the other guys were coming in strong, so I just hoped I could hit the wall first," Phelps said He did. Just barely.
Yamamoto, who was closing quickly on Phelps, said: "I was aiming at gold. "I have nothing to regret. This is the result I got after giving my best, so I think this is the best result with my skills right now."
Parry, who was fourth in this event at last year's World championships in Barcelona, exulted: ""I am absolutely made up. Great Britain needed a medal and I'm happy to get it!"
These three men occupied the top three spots the entire race and were never seriously challenged. Poland's Pawel Korzeniowski, 19, set a national record of 1:56.00 in finishing fourth.
Defending Olympic champion Tom Malchow was eighth in 1:57.48, precisely the time he swam in the semifinals.
Men 200m Butterfly Finals
Record Splits Name NOC Location Date
WR 1:53.93 25.95 54.89 1:24.28 PHELPS Michael USA Barcelona (ESP) 22 JUL 2003
OR 1:55.35 26.21 55.75 1:25.27 MALCHOW Thomas USA Sydney (AUS) 19 SEP 2000
Event No: 14
Rank Lane Name NOC R.T. 50m 100m 150m Time Time
Behind
1 5 PHELPS Michael USA 0.78 (1) 25.55 (1) 54.45
28.90 (1) 1:24.54
30.09 1:54.04
29.50 OR
2 6 YAMAMOTO Takashi JPN 0.71 (3) 25.98 (3) 55.21
29.23 (3) 1:25.07
29.86 1:54.56
29.49 0.52 AS
3 4 PARRY Stephen GBR 0.69 (2) 25.90 (2) 55.16
29.26 (2) 1:24.90
29.74 1:55.52
30.62 1.48
4 3 KORZENIOWSKI Pawel POL 0.78 (5) 26.37 (4) 55.51
29.14 (4) 1:25.62
30.11 1:56.00
30.38 1.96
5 7 GHERGHEL Ioan ROM 0.85 (4) 26.32 (5) 55.96
29.64 (5) 1:25.99
30.03 1:56.10
30.11 2.06
6 2 WU Peng CHN 0.78 (6) 26.47 (8) 56.25
29.78 (6) 1:26.30
30.05 1:56.28
29.98 2.24
7 1 SKVORTSOV Nikolay RUS 0.90 (7) 26.63 (6) 56.22
29.59 (7) 1:26.33
30.11 1:57.14
30.81 3.10
8 8 MALCHOW Tom USA 0.75 (8) 26.64 (7) 56.23
29.59 (8) 1:26.64
30.41 1:57.48
30.84 3.44