LONDON, (Reuters) – Michael Phelps was just inches away from making a shock early exit on a sensational opening day to the swimming competition at the London Olympics today that saw South Korea’s defending champion Park Tae-hwan disqualified.
Phelps got his hand on the wall in the nick of time to scrape into the final of the men’s 400 metres individual medley, an event he easily won at the past two Olympics, but as the slowest qualifier.
“I didn’t expect those guys to go that fast in the heats,” said Phelps. “I think the only thing that matters is getting a spot. You can’t get the gold medal from the morning.”
The American won his heat but only after making a desperate lunge on his final stroke to pip Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh, who won the silver in Beijing four years ago.
The difference between the two was just 0.07 seconds, but the tiny margin could not have been more significant with Phelps sneaking into the final and Cseh missing out.
Ryan Lochte, the world champion and favourite to win the gold medal in the final later on Saturday, was third fastest overall after Japan’s Kosuke Hagino set the quickest time.
Lochte’s clash with Phelps has been billed as one of the great rivalries of the Games and while both were below their best in the heats, they were still expected to slug it out in the final.
“It didn’t feel so good, but that was my first race, and my first race is always the worst one,” Lochte said. “It’s a tough field. But he’s (Phelps) in.”
Park, who became a national hero in South Korea when he won the 400 freestyle gold medal in Beijing four years ago, easily won his heat on Saturday only to discover he had been disqualified for a false start, a rare event in middle-distance races, when he apparently flinched on the blocks.
He locked himself in a bathroom for two hours when he was disqualified at Athens in 2004 and said he had no idea how it could have happened again.