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Steffen Edges Out Torres

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The Associated Press

Published: August 17, 2008

BEIJING - Dara Torres was denied an improbable gold medal this morning by one-hundredth of a second - the same margin that kept Michael Phelps on course to break Mark Spitz's record.

The 41-year-old Torres, a five-time Olympian and the oldest American swimmer ever, settled for a silver when Germany's Britta Steffen edged her at the wall in the 50-meter freestyle to complete a sweep of the women's sprint events in Beijing.

Torres smiled, her head dropping back, when she saw a time of 24.07 seconds - just behind Steffen's winning effort of 24.06. The German added to her gold in the 100 free.

Completing a race for all ages, 16-year-old Australian Cate Campbell claimed the bronze in 24.17.

Torres, a former Gator swimmer, also took silver as part of the United States 400 medley relay team, as Australia won in a world-record time.

Emily Seebohm, Leisel Jones, Jess Schipper and Libby Trickett finished in 3 minutes, 52.69 seconds, lowering the old mark of 3:55.74 set by Australia at last year's world championships in Melbourne.

The U.S. team of Natalie Coughlin, Rebecca Soni, Christine Magnuson and Torres finished in 3:53.30.

China's team of Zhao Jing, Sun Ye, Zhou Yafei and Pang Jiaying took the bronze in 3:56.11.

Elsewhere, Oussama Mellouli won Tunisia's first Olympic swimming gold medal, denying Aussie Grant Hackett's bid for a third consecutive title in the men's 1,500 free.

Ryan Cochrane of Canada took bronze in 14:42.69.

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