ATHENS - Britain again left the Athens pool empty handed on Friday after Medal hopes Katy Sexton and Rebecca Cooke failed to make their mark in their Olympic finals.
World Champion Sexton was unsuccessful in her bid to win a second global crown when she finished seventh in the 200m backstroke final.
Swimming In the outside lane Sexton, 22, was never in the race and touched home in a disappointing 2:12.11, over three seconds adrift of the British record she set to win the world title in Barcelona last year.
Kirsty Coventry (Zimbabwe) won the gold medal, Stanislava Komarova (Russia) took the silver and Reiko Nakamura (Japan) and Antje Buschschulte (Germany) shared the bronze
Sexton said: “I’m really disappointed and I didn’t perform. There was a lot of pressure on me before these Games but most of that was from myself.
"I wouldn't say anything has gone terribly wrong. I've prepared better than I have any other time but it hasn't worked out the way I wanted.
"I've enjoyed this more than Sydney, I came here for the right reasons and that was to win a medal.
"I was very nervous tonight, it's quite hard being the first race of the evening but it's been a fantastic experience."
After being denied a bronze medal after Thursday’s high drama over the men’s 200m backstroke result, Britain were pinning their hopes on Cooke, arguably the team’s most consistent performer at international level.
But she too was unable to deliver and finished sixth in the women’s 800m freestyle final. She was always in contention throughout the race, but in the final 100m as her rivals pulled away, there was no fight back from the Glasgow swimmer in the latter stages.
Cooke, the world bronze medallist last year, clocked a disappointing 8:29.37, almost four seconds away from her lifetime best – which would have won her the bronze. Ai Shibata (Japan) was the winner, with Laure Manaudou (France) second and Diana Munz (US) third.
Cooke vowed to bounce back from her disappointing games and admitted her below-par performances were “really, really upsetting”.
"It's just really hard when you know how much work you've put in. To not compete how I expected and not get what I feel I deserved at the Olympics is just really, really upsetting.
"It's going to be a lot tougher to get over this because it's an Olympic Games and they only come round every four years. I think it's going to take me a while but I'm sure I'll bounce back.
"I wasn't overly nervous, it's just such a big occasion and you just want to swim your best."
Five-time Olympian Alison Sheppard’s Games came to an early end when she missed the 50m freestyle final. She matched her heat time of 25.36, which was a sizable 0.68 seconds off her British record which she set to win the Commonwealth title.
Sheppard, Scotland’s most successful female swimmer and the most experienced member of the British team at 31 years of age said she might consider retiring after the Games.
”It might be time for me to hang up my goggles,” she said. “I’ll go away and re-evaluate the situation. All my training and preparation was good and I thought I was in really good shape but it wasn’t to be.
”I’ve been to five Olympics but these were the best for me, despite my performance. I never got the prize, but I have some good memories.”
-ENDS-
■ The 2004 Olympic Games take place in Athens, Greece, between August 13 and 29. Swimming runs from August 14 to 21.
For further details contact Martin Petty, British Swimming Communications Officer in the UK on 01509 632237, 07968 411689 or email martin.petty@swimming.org
Or contact Dave Richards, Team GB Swimming Press Attaché in Athens, on +44 77899 26136 or email david.richards@swimming.org
