Swm: Lauterstein wins Olympic bronze

AAP General News (Australia)
08-16-2008
Swm: Lauterstein wins Olympic bronze

By Todd Balym

BEIJING, Aug 16 AAP - Australian butterflyer Andrew Lauterstein will never forget his
100m butterfly Olympic bronze medal and neither will the rest of the world.

Lauterstein will be remembered as the other man on the podium, the one crying, when
US superstar Michael Phelps won his record-equalling seventh Olympic gold medal.

"I said to him I can't believe I'm about to cry and it's the American national anthem,"

said Lauterstein of his medal presentation.

The race will forever be shrouded in controversy after silver medallist Milorad Cavic
of Serbia protested the result after replays showed he touched the wall first even if
the timing awarded Phelps the win by one hundredth of a second.

Phelps was given a time of 50.58 seconds to Cavic's (50.59), while Lauterstein (51.12)
had his own tiny victory beating world record holder Ian Crocker (51.13) to bronze by
the same margin.

"It felt like I was dreaming," said Lauterstein of his third placing.

"It was the type of thing I was dreaming about last night. I knew I could be up there
pushing for a medal and it is just amazing.

"Words cannot comprehend the way I am feeling at the moment.

"It was just a great race to be part of, an absolute spectacle.

"I had already achieved all my goals for this meet and it was just a matter of going
out there and knowing I had nothing to lose."

Lauterstein's rise to Olympic bronze medallist is an incredible story of persistence
after he relocated from Melbourne to the Gold Coast as a backstroker.

He has since turned into a butterflyer and freestyler making massive gains in the past 12 months.

"I have trained better than I ever have and I've been taking my gym pretty professionally,"

he said.

"I've trimmed down a little bit and I think I'm stronger as well.

"A year and a half ago my 100m freestyle personal best was 51.1 and now it's my 100m
butterfly personal best.

"It is just crazy ... it's a little bit surreal at the moment."

AAP tb/mo

KEYWORD: OLY08 SWM LAUTERSTEIN

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