Pedro Adrega, Head of FINA Communications Department
OPEN WATER-Oussama Mellouli had warned: his entry into the
open water elite would be memorable. In the second 10km event he ever raced,
the Tunisian star won the men’s FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier held today
in Setubal (POR). Mellouli completed the race in 1h45m18s5 after a superb
strategy in which he always stayed in the leading group of athletes, providing
a superb and decisive attack in the last two loops of the race.
The Olympic champion of the 1500m free in Beijing (CHN) had
declared in the Press Conference presenting the event in Setubal that, if
qualified for London, he would fight for the medals in the British capital.
“Despite looking easy, it was a hard race! In April, when I
participated in my first 10km race in Cancun, I had adopted a wrong strategy –
I led for a long time, and then I lost some power in the end of the race. Here,
it was different: I managed myself well throughout the race and I save some
energy for the end”, considered Mellouli after the medal ceremony.
“Four years ago, Australian Grant Hackett, also an Olympic
champion in the 1500m free, tried to qualify in marathon swimming and was not
successful. I had of course that in mind when I decided to also opt for open
water, but so far it paid off”, declared Mellouli, eager to defend some days
before the marathon swimming event in London, his 1500m free title in the pool.
In Setubal, the first leader of the race was China’s Zu
Lijun, who registered the fastest time in the initial three laps but lost most
of his momentum in the second half of the 10km effort, finishing in a
non-qualifying 23rd place. When Zu began to fade, Valerio Cleri (ITA, first at
the fourth lap), Mellouli, Richard Weinberger (CAN), Petar Stoychev (BUL) and
Troyden Prinsloo (RSA) started to dominate the operations. Mellouli was the
fastest and had a solitary lead in the last hundreds of metres but the
remaining four athletes of the lead brilliantly assured their qualification –
Weinberger was second (11.7s behind the winner), Stoychev got the bronze (15.6s
behind), Cleri was fourth (18.3s) and Prinsloo finished fifth (22.3s). If for
Canada, this was the first qualification in the men’s event, Stoychev will swim
in London his fourth Olympics (after performing in the pool in 2000 and 2004,
he was the flag bearer of Bulgaria at the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Games,
where he ranked sixth in the inaugural 10km race), Cleri will also try to do
better than his fourth place four years ago, and South Africa will again have a
representative in the Games – this time, Prinsloo, who did better in Portugal
than 12th placed Chad Ho (who had been present in Beijing in 2008).
“I am very happy to have qualified for London. All the
conditions were excellent here and in my fourth Olympics, a good result would
be to stay in the top-8”, confessed Petar Stoychev, one of the best open water
swimmers in history and the world record holder of the English Channel. “After
the Olympics, it’s time to be on the technical part of sport, not on the
competitive side of it. It’s 98% certain that after London, I will think about
something different. I will maybe contest the European championships later in
the year, but then it will be time to retire”, said 36-year-old Stoychev.
Besides this group of five qualifiers, Japan’s Yasunari Hirai also got the
direct qualification in sixth, followed by Igor Chervynskiy (UKR, 12th in 2008
at the Games), Ivan Enderica (ECU, 8th in Setubal) and local star Arseniy
Lavrentyev (the Portuguese swimmer had been in Beijing four years ago,
concluding in 22nd). After these first nine direct qualifiers, the continental
spots went to Yuri Kudinov (KAZ, 10th), Erwin Maldonado (VEN, 11th), Csaba
Gercsak (HUN, 14th), Kane Radford (NZL, 27th), and Mazen Aziz (EGY,
36th).
The main surprises from the side of the non-qualified were
Allan do Carmo (BRA, 19th) and Damian Blaum (ARG, 37th), who were four years
ago in the Games, concluding in 14th and 21st respectively. They are also solid
swimmers in the annual FINA open water series and their success was in theory
assured. The race in the waters of Setubal proved to be too hard for the two
South American competitors.
Finally, the major upset of the day was the “internal” qualification for Great
Britain. As host of the Games, one place was assured and David Davies was
naturally the favourite to fill the berth. The silver medallist in Beijing was
however not in shape and concluded in a modest 38th place. His compatriot
Daniel Fogg finished in 35th and will be the British representative in
Serpentine Lake in Hyde Park.
The complete list of 25 swimmers qualified for London
2012 Olympic Games is as follows (10 from Shanghai and 15 from Setubal):
Spyridon Gianniotis (GRE) - Shanghai
Thomas Lurz (GER) - Shanghai
Sergey Bolshakov (RUS) - Shanghai
Alex Meyer (USA) - Shanghai
Ky Hurst (AUS) - Shanghai
Francisco Jose Hervas (ESP) - Shanghai
Brian Ryckeman (BEL) – Shanghai
Julien Sauvage (FRA) – Shanghai
Vladimir Dyatchin (RUS) – Shanghai
Andreas Waschburger (GER) - Shanghai
Oussama Mellouli (TUN) - Setubal
Richard Weinberger (CAN) - Setubal
Petar Stoychev (BUL) - Setubal
Valerio Cleri (ITA) - Setubal
Troyden Prinsloo (RSA) - Setubal
Yasunari Hirai (JPN) - Setubal
Igor Chervynskiy (UKR) - Setubal
Ivan Enderica Ocho (ECU) - Setubal
Arseniy Lavrentyev (POR) - Setubal
Yuri Kudinov (KAZ) - Setubal
Erwin Maldonado (VEN) - Setubal
Csaba Gercsak (HUN) - Setubal
Kane Radford (NZL) - Setubal
Mazen Aziz (EGY) - Setubal
Daniell Fogg (GBR) – Setubal
(fina)
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