Park Fails to Advance to 1500m Final

Park Tae-hwan hangs on the lane rope, checking the record board after finishing in 15 minutes and 5.55 seconds in the men's 1,500-meter freestyle qualifying at the Beijing Olympics in Beijing Friday. Park, 18, who won the 400-meter freestyle Sunday, failed to reach the final. / Yonhap

By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter

Park Tae-hwan's bid for a third Olympic medal will have to wait another four years.

The 18-year-old South Korean swimming prospect failed to qualify for a spot in the final of the men's 1,500-meter freestyle competition at the Beijing Olympics on Friday.

Park emerged as perhaps the country's most transcendent sports star by wining the gold in the men's 400-meter freestyle earlier this week and finishing behind record-breaking American Michael Phelps in the 200-meter freestyle for a silver.

However, Park's ambitions for a gold double ended Friday when he finished 16th in his 1,500m heat with a time of 15 minutes, 5.55 seconds ― about 10 seconds slower than his personal best of 14:55.08.

Australia's Grant Hackett displayed the best form among the eight swimmers qualifying for the final with a time of 14:38.92. China's Zhang Lin, Canada's Ryan Cochrane and Russia's Yuriy Prilukov also qualified for the finals.

Park has a reputation for his stamina, but looked out of gas on Friday, with his pace visibly slowed after the first 600 meters and drifting about 40 meters behind leaders Cochrane and Prilukoy after the midway point, a gap he did not shorten until the end.

The 1,500m was considered the most difficult among the three competitions Park swam in the Olympics.

Since participating in an international event in Japan in August 2007, Park had not competed in a 1,500m event, aside from a FINA (International Swimming Federation) World Cup series short-course meet last November.

thkim@koreatimes.co.kr

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