Manaudou vows to bounce back at Olympics
DUNKIRK, France: French swimmer Laure Manaudou on Tuesday vowed to bounce back at the Olympic Games after being beaten for the first time in four years over her favourite distance, the 400m freestyle, at the national championships here.
Despite the reigning Olympic champion and two-time world champion over the distance still qualifying for Beijing, she admitted that she had been devastated by her third place.
She collapsed in tears late on Monday after she finished behind Romania's 200m Olympic champion Camelia Potec - the new protege of her former coach Philippe Lucas - and Coralie Balmy, who took the national title.
"I wasn't only depressed yesterday evening, I was until midday," explained Manaudou who on Tuesday pulled out of the women's 200m freestyle final, meaning she will not qualify for the event for the Olympic Games.
But she bounced back later Tuesday by winning the 100m backstroke. "I cried my eyes out because I think that it's not good to hold things in," explained Manaudou.
"It's true that yesterday evening it was hard for me to refocus on the competition. When I talked about it I started crying. Even when I talk about it now it's true that it still annoys me a little."
"It was really difficult (to refocus). I didn't feel great in the freestyle so I preferred not to do the 200m to do a good 100m backstroke. If I had swam the 200m I wouldn't have won the 100m backstroke."
Manaudou, 21, admitted that she was under enormous pressure compared to her experience when she went to Athens four years ago, but that the defeat was a learning experience.
"I've never been so stressed. In 2004 I was 17 years old. I breezed through the qualifiers, I did one race after another and I was very fresh," she explained.
"Now, I'm not old, but I've four more years on the clock and younger swimmers are coming up behind me. It's not easy being beaten but it's true that it's better that it happens now. I think I'll have less pressure when I go over 400m (at the Olympics) because I no longer have the world record and I'm not the top Frenchwoman now."
AFP
(China Daily 04/24/2008 page22)
