Pool haul
Phelps shoots to 3d gold of Games; Peirsol, Coughlin also 1st
BEIJING - It was the third full day of the Olympic meet and no United States swimmer but Michael Phelps and his three new best friends had heard the anthem played for them. How long would the man from Baltimore have to carry the whole team on his back? Was he their only morning person?
Finally, the alarm clock jolted a few other Americans awake today and the gold rush began in earnest. Phelps picked up his third with a dominating triumph in the 200-meter freestyle with his third world record (1:42.96) and Aaron Peirsol (a world record 52.54) and Natalie Coughlin (an American record 58.96) followed with victories in the 100 backstrokes.
Taken with silvers from Matt Grevers (100 back) and Rebecca Soni (100 breaststroke) and bronzes from Peter Vanderkaay (200 free) and Margaret Hoelzer (100 back), it made for a lucky seven for the Yanks, who finally had the monster day they'd been craving. "It's great to see others getting involved, especially in events that are so competitive," said coach Mark Schubert. We feel very good about it."
It was the kind of golden haul the Americans used to get in the opener and it's what they'll need if the US team is going to hold off the Chinese and stay atop the overall gold medal table. Until today, the only golds had come from Phelps in the 400 individual medley and the men's 4 by 100 freestyle relay, by a hand's length over the French. Two more had gone a-glimmering yesterday when Brendan Hansen, the world champion and global record-holder, had missed the podium in the 100 breast and Katie Hoff, with victory in her grasp, was touched out by Rebecca Adlington in the 400 free.
Today, they had three strong golden chances and they cashed them all. It was Phelps, in the opening race, who set the tone, blasting off the blocks and winning the 200 free by nearly two seconds ahead of South Korea's Park Tae Hwan (1:44.85) and Vanderkaay (1:45.14).
Next up was Coughlin, who came in as defending champion and world titlist, but had lost her global mark to Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry in the prelims and figured she'd had to fight for her life. Though she won by more than two tenths of a second, Coughlin couldn't be sure, even after she'd checked the scoreboard.
"When I first saw the time, I thought they had made a mistake," said Coughlin, the only woman to win the event twice at the Games. "It was a very fast time. When I saw the 1 by my name, I thought they had made a mistake. Then I saw my name there and I realized that I'd got it."
Peirsol, who also was the defending Olympic and reigning world champion and record-holder, was a huge favorite, but after he turned second, nearly half a second behind Great Britain's Liam Tancock, he needed to motor. He just didn't know it.
Sitting in lane 2, far away from the froth, Peirsol was in his own world, listening to his own clock. "I didn't know what anyone else was doing, being so far away from everyone," he said.
But Peirsol surged into the lead, as he always does, and won by more than half a second, becoming the first man since East Germany's Roland Matthes in 1972 to win the event at consecutive Olympics.
"I feel like it's gold after Peirsol," said Grevers, after the Yanks had gone 1-2 in that race at a non-boycotted Games for the first time since 1976. "Really, the race was for second. I got what I hoped for."
Phelps, though, was the biggest favorite on the board after winning the 200 free by more than two seconds at the world meet. Four years ago, this was the race that had cost him the seventh gold, which would have tied Mark Spitz's record, with Phelps coming third behind Australia's Ian Thorpe and Pieter van den Hoogenband of the Netherlands.
With Thorpe retired and van den Hoogenband focusing on the 100 free, Phelps is the man now, and he made that clear right from the start. Since he was swimming out of lane 6, he figured that Park (who'd won the 400) and Vanderkaay (his Michigan training partner) might not know where he was. "I knew if I jumped first, the guys in the middle of the pool wouldn't be able to see me," he reckoned. "By the time they did, hopefully I'd have enough ground where I could hold them off."
Phelps was half a body length ahead when he came up for air. At 100 meters, he was more than a second ahead of Park. After 150, Phelps had open water on the field. The only question was how much he would chop from the world mark (1:43.86), which he set last year. It could have been more than nine-tenths of a second, but Phelps had the 200 butterfly semis 45 minutes later and wanted to save energy.
What he learned in Athens is there's a gold medal (or two) to chase almost every day and there's no need to be any better than he needs to be. Another gold, another world record, was enough.
"I'm just going to go back, get some rest and some food in my system, recover back at the village and prepare for tomorrow," said Phelps, who should pick up two more golds in tomorrow's 200 fly and 4 x 200 freestyle relay. "Two big races tomorrow."
John Powers can be reached at jpowers@globe.com. 