By Stephen J. Thomas
ATHENS, Greece. August 15. GARY Hall Jr. will not swim the final of the 4 x 100m freestyle relay for Team USA tonight for the first time since he arrived on the scene with such impact at the Atlanta Games.
Hall has been the anchor for the 400 meter freestyle and medley relays for the past two Olympic meets, bringing the team home for four medals: three gold and a silver.
Hall had a disappointing swim in the prelims this morning in the final leg with a split of 48.73. His teammate from Sydney, Neil Walker, split a much faster 48.16, so Hall misses out.
Team USA will swim tonight with Michael Phelps, Neil Walker, Ian Crocker and Jason Lezak.
The word is: expect a new world record! (Though the South Africans expect to have something to say about that.)