No world records in these preliminaries, but plenty of looking ahead
OLYMPIC SWIMMING
Hungary's Daniel Gyurta and the U.S. men's 800 freestyle relay team notch Olympic records as swimmers regroup from early feats.
BEIJING -- Incredibly, there were no world records at the preliminary swim sessions on Tuesday night, giving everyone in the sport the chance to take a deep breath. There were two Olympic records: Daniel Gyurta of Hungary (2:06.68) in the 200 breaststroke and the U.S. men's 800 freestyle relay team (7:04.66).
The relay team featured David Walters, Ricky Berens, Erik Vendt and Klete Keller.
Among those attempting to settle their emotions were Garrett Weber-Gale and Jason Lezak, two members of the world-record setting 400 freestyle relay. They had to come off that winning high from Monday morning and get back to it in the prelims of the 100 freestyle.
Weber-Gale and Lezak moved on to the semifinals, qualifying eighth and 11th respectively. Lezak, in particular, was dealing with a blinding rush of attention after his epic, come-from-behind anchor leg, in which he out-touched Alain Bernard of France.
"I was a little tired," said Lezak, who went 48.83 in the prelims. "But I was just trying to go out there to get to the finals. I didn't want to make the same mistake I made in Athens, so I took it out hard. I just kind of saw where the field was and did what I had to do to get by."
Someone told him that Michael Phelps said he had a difficult time putting the relay behind him.
"Michael went out and broke a world record, so it couldn't have been too hard for him," Lezak said. "For me, I didn't sleep last night. I was a little restless. I've got a lot of big swims ahead of me and I'm just trying to get ready for those."
He wasn't the only anxious swimmer on hand. Breaststroker Eric Shanteau, who was diagnosed with testicular cancer shortly before the Olympic trials in Omaha, was eager to get underway.
"The first one is always the worst one in any meet," said Shanteau. "You're just relieved when it's over and I'm even more relieved that was a real good time for me. So I think that's just a sign of good things to come."
Shanteau had the seventh-fastest qualifying time, in 2:10.29.
As for swimming in the Olympics, he said, "You hype it up so much in your head. And when you get out there, you're like, 'Wow, this is just another meet.' I'm here to do the same thing. It's no different. At the same time, it's just a dream come true for me just to be able to race in the Games. This was the longest day of my life."
lisa.dillman@latimes.com
