Michael Phelps starts Olympic quest as favourites show the way

By Peter Auf der Heyde Aug 9, 2008, 13:46 GMT

Beijing - Michael Phelps on Saturday started the quest for a historic eight gold medals when he led a group of favourites into Sunday's Olympic swim finals finals.

Phelps comfortably won his 400m medley heat in an Olympic record 4 minutes 7.28 seconds.

'I am pretty satisfied with the time. I did not think I'd swim that fast in the preliminaries,' he said after his record-breaking swim in the Beijing Water Cube which left him somewhat surprised.

'I didn't think that I'd be the first to get it, not until the finals. I wanted to be first to win tomorrow. I just wanted first in the heats. I had an idea of what I wanted to do,' Phelps said.

Hungarian Lazlo Cseh had the second time, while Luca Marin of Italy was third. Phelps' friend Ryan Lochte, whom many believe to be the man who could stop Phelps from making history, qualified with the fourth time.

In the women's 100m butterfly, Australian world champion Libby Trickett had a narrow escape as she qualified for the semi-finals in 12th place.

'I was expecting to be faster tonight. Obviously having the heats at night shakes things up a little bit. I'm happy with that, it gets me through to the next round.'

Australian Jessicah Schipper, who is Trickett's great rival, led the heats with 57.48 seconds.

'I am pretty happy. It is always great to get the first race over and done with. A few things went wrong out there, but it's great to know how I have some things to improve in the semi-finals,' said Schipper.

American Larsen Jenson led the field in the men's 400m freestyle in 3:43.10 minutes. China's Zhang Lin was a popular winner in his heat to qualify with the second-fastest time ahead of South Korean world champion Park Tae-hwan.

Australian Grant Hackett, who is hoping to become the first male swimmer to win three events in a row in the 1,500m also qualified for the finals, with the fifth-fastest time.

Americans Elizabeth Beisel and Katie Hoff had the two fastest times in the women's 400m medley and will go into Sunday's final as favourites, with 15-year-old Beisel on 4:34.55 and the world record holder Hoff just eight hundreds adrift.

Australian Stephanie Rice is expected to give them the strongest challenge.

Hoff said that she was satisfied with her performance.

'I was proud of myself and I stayed within my own race. I just have to focus on myself. It was one of my best preliminary swims ever. I am ready to come back tomorrow and do it again,' said Hoff.

In the women's 4x100m women's freestyle relay the Chinese were the popular winners in their heat, just beating Germany into second place.

The Americans, the Dutch and the French, who are considered medal- hopefuls in the event, finished first, second and third respectively in the second heat.

Norwegian 100m breaststroke swimmer Alexander Dale Oen provided the second Olympic record of the meet, when he posted the fastest time with 59.41, beating Kosuke Kitajima into second place.

South African Cameron van der Burgh, who is also give a chance to medal in the event, had the fifth-fastest time in the new African record time of 59.96.

World record holder and current world champion Brendan Hanson, who was fourth in his heat, but comfortably qualified for the semi- finals, said that he swam what he wanted to swim in 1:00.36.

'I got the rhythm I wanted, just not the time. I didn't think I was going that slow. When you spend four weeks at training camp, you might not be as sharp as you want to be.'

The finals of the men's 400m individual medley, the men's 400m freestyle, the women's 400m individual medley and the women's 4x100 freestyle relay will be swum on Sunday morning.