Thorpe wins gold; Phelps sets record

ATHENS, Greece - U.S. prodigy Michael Phelps could not beat Australian Ian Thorpe and, therefore, cannot equal Mark Spitz.

While Phelps happily took the bronze in the much-anticipated 200-meter freestyle at the Summer Olympics, two Americans - backstrokers Natalie Coughlin and Aaron Peirsol -- did earn gold medals in Monday night's swimming competition at the Olympic Aquatic Centre.

The evening's fourth final, the 100-meter breaststroke, produced a surprise winner in China's Luo Xuejuan.

But first came Thorpe. The 21-year-old asserted his authority by churning to an Olympic record 1:44.71. Thorpe overtook 2000 gold medalist Pieter van den Hoogenband of the Netherlands over the final 50 meters as a cool breeze whipped across the water and a capacity crowd roared.

Van den Hoogenband finished second in 1:45.23 and then turned to congratulate Thorpe.

"I told him, 'Now we're even,' " said van den Hoogenband, who'd been on world-record pace for 150 meters. "I wanted to improve the limits of the world record, but I had given too much in the first 100 meters."

Thorpe said the victory soothed the sting of his 2000 Olympic loss to van den Hoogenband over a distance he feels he should dominate.

"He's a sprinter," Thorpe said. "I have an endurance background."

The gold was Thorpe's second of these Games, following his win in Sunday's 400 freestyle, and fifth of his career.

Phelps, 19, had been attempting to challenge Spitz' 1972 Olympic feat by winning seven gold medals here, despite knowing that Thorpe and van den Hoogenband had superior freestyle times. His bronze-medal time of 1:45.32 was an American record.

"I did what I wanted to do," Phelps said. "I did my best time, and I raced the two greatest 200-meter swimmers of all time. So I am happy."

He won Saturday's 400 individual medley in a world record 4:08.26 for his first career Olympic medal. His quest for eight golds, one more than Spitz, was thwarted when the U.S. 4x100-meter relay team placed third Sunday.

Phelps took the setback in stride. He came back later to swim the second fastest time in the 200 butterfly semifinals.

"It's definitely a whole lot different than the (U.S.) trials," the Baltimore resident said. "It's a lot more emotionally draining. When you have a star-studded field like that and those guys are going so fast out there, it makes it pretty exciting."

The first Olympic gold of Coughlin's long-promising career was achieved in narrow fashion. The University of California student was well shy of her world record but won the 100 backstroke in 1:00.37. Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe took silver in 1:00.50, followed by France's Laure Manaudou, third in 1:00.88.

"I was hurting out there," Coughlin said.

Comfort was colored gold.

"It's too hard to put into words," she said. "I have had so many ups and downs over the past years. But I have a gold medal, and I have it for life."

Peirsol, from Irvine, Calif., won the men's 100 backstroke in 54.06 ahead of Austria's Markus Rogan (54.35) and Japan's Tomomi Morita (54.36). Rogan earned Austria's first swimming medal since 1912.

Defending champion Lenny Krayzelburg of the United States was two-hundredths of a second back in fourth place. Peirsol was second to him in Sydney.

"It is special for me and I'm very happy to get it, especially for my team," Peirsol said. "It's most important to keep the legacy going and start something new."

Peirsol was the third consecutive U.S. champion in the 100 backstroke. Jeff Rouse won in 1992.

Swimming the women's 100 breaststroke out of lane one, Luo won in an Olympic record 1:06.64 ahead of Australians Brooke Hanson (1:07.15) and Leisel Jones (1:07.16). The USA's Amanda Beard was fourth (1:07:44).

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