Australian coach Denis Cotterell said Saturday that there is no chance Chinese freestyle swimmer Zhang Lin can beat Australia's long-distance king Grant Hackett in today's 1,500m freestyle final.
"There might be a medal hope for Zhang. But for a gold medal, no way," said Cotterell, who was Hackett's former coach and now coaches Zhang.
Hackett cruised to an Olympic record (14 min 38.92 sec) in his signature event, the 1,500m freestyle, on Friday, and looked well on his way to winning his third consecutive Olympic gold medal in the event.
Zhang Lin of China competes in his men's 1500m freestyle swimming heat at the National Aquatics Center during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, August 15, 2008. [Agencies] More photos about Zhang
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Zhang, who won silver in the men's 400m freestyle, clocked 14:45.84. South Korea's Park Tae-hwan had to cut short his Olympic adventure after failing to qualify for the final, finishing 16th with a time of 15:05.55.
Hackett has been a benchmark swimmer in the men's 1,500m freestyle since 2001, when he clocked 14:34.56 in the World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan. The high mark has remained intact since then.
Second placed China's Zhang Lin stands on the podium after the men's 400m freestyle swimming final at the National Aquatics Center during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games on August 10, 2008 in Beijing. South Korea Park Taehwan won in a time of 3:41.86. [Agencies]
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Cotterell said Hackett was able to swim under 14 min 30 sec four years ago, but the swimmer hasn't given his best at world events: "As long as he could win the gold medal, there is no need to go that fast."
Among the finalists in Sunday's race, Hackett is the only one who swam under 14 min 40 sec. Zhang was almost seven sec behind Hackett, good for fourth place.
Cotterell, with whom Zhang has trained for nearly six months, said Zhang did his best in the heats and improved his personal best by 10 sec, but "Hackett certainly conserved some energy in the heats".
The coach said Zhang has improved a lot in the past several months, especially in his turning skills.
"But compared with Hackett," Cotterell said, "his skills are not perfect and he lacks the experience that Hackett has gained over many years."
In today's competition, Cotterell says the most important thing for Zhang is to "swim his own race" and not be disturbed by Hackett's fast pace.
Cotterell says his former student is in a good form.
"The key thing for Hackett is whether he can recover well after Saturday's heats."
Cotterell has coached 16 swimmers in the Olympics and guided countless others to state and national titles. Four of his swimmers - Hackett, Daniel Kowalski, Giaan Rooney and Andrew Baildon - have won Olympic medals. Hackett left Cotterell last year.
Xinhua