Hansen takes 100m breaststroke bronze, while Berens, Feigen also medal
July 29, 2012 LONDON -- Brendan Hansen climbed three positions in the final 50 meters to earn a bronze medal in the 100m breaststroke on Sunday at the Aquatics Centre. This marks Hansen’s third Olympic individual medal. Ricky Berens and Jimmy Feigen also made it to the medal stand Sunday, earning silver through their participation in the 4x100m freestyle relay. Hansen finished the breaststroke in 59.49. Cameron van der Burgh of South Africa took gold with a world-record time of 58.46. A 59.78 swim in Saturday’s semifinals left Hansen with the eighth-best time and in lane eight for his third Olympic 100m breaststroke final. Hansen won a silver medal during the 2004 Athens Olympics and was fourth in 2008. Hansen came out of retirement in 2011 and punctuated his return to swimming by capturing the 100m breaststroke title at the Olympic Trials in June. “Brendan earned this the American way, through hard work, dedication and faithful focus on a goal that may or may not be reachable,” said Texas Men’s Swimming and Diving assistant coach Kris Kubik. “He is such a great ambassador for our sport in the way he carries himself publicly - humble, friendly and caring. All of us associated with Texas Swimming and Diving are elated for his accomplishment tonight. On our sport's biggest stage, he performed his absolute best. We could not be prouder for Brendan and his wife, Martha.” Berens and Feigen were part of the U.S. men’s foursome for the qualifying heat of the 4x100m freestyle relay. The United States advanced to the relay final with the second-best time of 3:12.59 after two heats. The foursome of Nathan Adrian, Michael Phelps, Cullen Jones and Ryan Lochte won the silver medal for the U.S. later Sunday. Though Berens and Feigen did not swim in the relay final, both will still receive medals for their qualifying efforts.
“The men's 400 relay tonight was almost a carbon copy of the 2008 final with a flip-flop of who got first and second,” Kubik added. “Jimmy and Ricky did their parts to contribute by their efforts in the preliminaries, and that allowed the U.S. to race tonight with four new swimmers. They are now proud owners of a silver medal from the 2012 London Games and have added another chapter to the rich tradition of Texas Swimming and Diving.” Feigen, competing in his first Olympiad, swam the opening leg of the relay in the qualifying heat, and he had the United States in second place with a 48.49 split. Berens, who won a gold medal in 2008 as part of the 4x200m freestyle relay, swam the third leg and brought the team into the anchor lap in first position. USA finished second in the heat and overall to Australia, which clocked the fastest qualifying time in 3:12.29. Berens missed making his first Olympic final as an individual by one position, as he finished ninth overall in Sunday’s 200m men’s freestyle semifinals. Berens started in lane six in the first of two semifinals heats. Berens was in eighth position coming off the last wall but surged three spots in the final 50 meters and touched the wall fifth in 1:46.87. The top eight after the semifinals moved on to Monday’s Olympic final. Berens advanced to the semifinals after finishing eighth overall after six qualifying heats in 1:47.07. The top 16 moved on to the semifinal round. London Olympics 2012 Men’s 100m Breaststroke Final 1. van der Burgh (South Africa), 58.46 WR Men’s 200m Freestyle Semifinals 1. Yang (China), 1:45.61 |
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