By Phillip Whitten
ATHENS, August 14. YOU don't get to be World Champion — let alone double World Champion — by rolling over and running up the white flag when the competition gets tough.
So it should be no surprise that Japan's Kosuke Kitajima, who won both the 100 and 200m breaststroke in world record times at last year's World Championships, sent a message to his American rival, Brendan Hansen, this morning.
Hansen had broken both of Kitajima's world marks at the US Trials last month and was the favorite coming into Athens. But swimming at this rarified level is as much a mental game as it is a test of physical skills. And Kitajima — Japan's "Pocket Rocket" — is a player.
So when he touched the pads in heat 7 in 1:00.03, he not only smashed the Olympic record of 1:00.46 set by Italy's Domenico Fioravanti in 2000, he challenged Hansen, swimming right behind him in heat 8. However Kitajima, 21, a student at the Nippon School of Physical Education, said time was not even on his mind. "My coach told me to concentrate on my stroke and I did."
Unfazed, Hansen glided to a 1:00.25 to post the morning's second-fastest time. The University of Texas grad, whose world mark stands at 59.30, clearly has a lot left in the bank and is ready to take Kitajima on, head-to-head, in the final.
The US qualified 2-3, with Mark Gangloff taking the third spot in 1:00.81 in winning heat 6. Brits Darren Mew and James Gibson qualified fourth and fifth in 1:00.89 and 1:00.99. No other swimmers went under 1:01.
Alabama sophomore Vladislav Polyakov, swimming for Kazakhstan, was seventh in 1:01.16.
Men 100m Breaststroke Heats
Record Split Name NOC Location Date
WR 59.30 27.93
HANSEN Brendan USA Long Beach (USA) 08 JUL 2004
OR 1:00.46 28.91
FIORAVANTI Domenico ITA Sydney (AUS) 17 SEP 2000
Event No: 5
Rank Heat Lane Name NOC R.T. 50m Time Time
Behind
1 7 4 KITAJIMA Kosuke JPN 0.70 28.46 1:00.03
31.57 OR
2 8 4 HANSEN Brendan USA 0.69 28.71 1:00.25
31.54 0.22
3 6 5 GANGLOFF Mark USA 0.71 28.57 1:00.81
32.24 0.78
4 6 4 MEW Darren GBR 0.80 28.69 1:00.89
32.20 0.86
5 7 3 GIBSON James GBR 0.77 28.42 1:00.99
32.57 0.96
6 7 5 DUBOSCQ Hugues FRA 0.78 28.66 1:01.15
32.49 1.12
7 6 1 POLYAKOV Vladislav KAZ 0.76 28.81 1:01.16
32.35 1.13
8 8 7 KRUPPA Jens GER 0.85 28.57 1:01.19
32.62 1.16
9 8 3 LISOGOR Oleg UKR 0.80 28.67 1:01.21
32.54 1.18
10 6 3 SLUDNOV Roman RUS 0.83 29.15 1:01.65
32.50 1.62
11 8 1 FISCHER Eduardo BRA 0.77 28.83 1:01.84
33.01 1.81
12 6 6 BODOR Richard HUN 0.75 29.48 1:01.91
32.43 1.88
13 7 7 PIHLAVA Jarno FIN 0.74 29.16 1:01.99
32.83 1.96
14 7 6 van VALKENGOED Thijs NED 0.78 29.33 1:02.03
32.70 2.00
15 6 2 KOMORNIKOV Dmitry RUS 0.89 29.57 1:02.05
32.48 2.02
16 7 1 KOLONKO Rene GER 0.86 28.90 1:02.09
33.19 2.06
17 7 2 TAHIROVIC Emil SLO 0.78 28.84 1:02.12
33.28 2.09
18 8 5 KNABE Morgan CAN 0.82 29.14 1:02.13
32.99 2.10
19 8 6 PIPER Jim AUS 0.80 29.22 1:02.16
32.94 2.13
19 8 2 DICKENS Scott CAN 0.77 29.50 1:02.16
32.66 2.13
21 8 8 OEN Alexander NOR 0.81 28.57 1:02.25
33.68 2.22
22 6 7 GUSTAFSSON Martin SWE 0.78 29.77 1:02.53
32.76 2.50
23 4 4 SVEINSSON Jakob Johann ISL 0.87 29.70 1:02.97
33.27 2.94
24 5 6 PARKIN Terence RSA 0.87 30.05 1:03.05
33.00 3.02
25 5 2 PODOPRIGORA Maxim AUT 0.81 29.94 1:03.08
33.14 3.05
26 7 8 ROGULJ Vanja CRO 0.72 29.24 1:03.16
33.92 3.13
27 5 1 de PRINS Alwin LUX 0.92 29.62 1:03.32
33.70 3.29
28 5 3 MALEK Daniel CZE 0.81 30.02 1:03.35
33.33 3.32
29 5 8 TEPAVCEVIC Mladen SCG 0.86 29.45 1:03.52
34.07 3.49
30 6 8 WANG Haibo CHN 0.81 30.13 1:03.54
33.41 3.51
31 3 4 YOU Seung-Hun KOR 0.65 29.41 1:03.56
34.15 3.53
32 5 7 DAID Sofiane ALG 0.80 29.46 1:03.63
34.17 3.60
33 5 5 COUTO Jose POR 0.80 29.61 1:03.72
34.11 3.69
34 5 4 LUETOLF Remo SUI 0.84 29.65 1:03.82
34.17 3.79
35 3 6 CHEN Cho Yi TPE 0.66 30.05 1:03.94
33.89 3.91
36 3 5 LABOWITCH Ben NZL 0.83 29.88 1:03.99
34.11 3.96
36 4 7 LOPEZ Arsenio PUR 0.75 30.01 1:03.99
33.98 3.96
38 3 7 VALAITIS Aurimas LTU 0.76 30.23 1:04.11
33.88 4.08
39 4 1 PAPADOPOULOS Christos GRE 0.83 30.51 1:04.43
33.92 4.40
40 4 3 FALL Malick SEN 0.83 30.06 1:04.50
34.44 4.47
41 4 2 ALLY Bradley BAR 0.86 30.39 1:04.71
34.32 4.68
42 4 8 NIENABER Wickus SWZ 0.74 30.06 1:04.74
34.68 4.71
43 4 6 SOLDANO Cristian Mauro ARG 0.74 30.34 1:05.05
34.71 5.02
44 2 4 TAM Chi Kin HKG 0.76 30.55 1:05.11
34.56 5.08
45 3 2 FORTUNY Alvaro GUA 0.75 29.81 1:05.41
35.60 5.38
46 3 1 DIMOSTHENOUS Kyriakos CYP 0.79 30.80 1:05.54
34.74 5.51
47 2 7 CAPITANCIUC Andrei MDA 0.79 30.32 1:05.65
35.33 5.62
47 2 1 ALKUDMANI Ahmed KSA 0.76 30.94 1:05.65
34.71 5.62
49 3 3 BALDIN Aleksander EST 0.89 31.02 1:06.04
35.02 6.01
50 2 6 CHUA Raphael Matthew PHI 0.71 31.39 1:06.37
34.98 6.34
51 2 2 MURANS Pavels LAT 0.85 30.70 1:06.45
35.75 6.42
52 3 8 NGUYEN Huu Viet VIE 0.79 32.12 1:06.70
34.58 6.67
53 1 5 WILLIAMS Eric NGR 0.78 31.64 1:07.69
36.05 7.66
54 2 8 RAZAKARIVONY Jean Luc MAD 0.86 32.17 1:07.74
35.57 7.71
55 2 5 PETRASHOV Evgeny KGZ 0.88 31.69 1:07.78
36.09 7.75
56 2 3 SIDOROV Oleg UZB 0.80 31.97 1:08.30
36.33 8.27
57 1 4 KANCHELA Chisela ZAM 0.75 32.01 1:09.95
37.94 9.92
58 1 3 SHAH Amar KEN 0.78 32.50 1:10.17
37.67 10.14
59 1 6 SHRESTHA Alice NEP 0.68 33.72 1:12.25
38.53 12.22
4 5 SIRISANONT Ratapong THA 0.77 DSQ