Disappointing result for Hamill
- Jon Tuxworth
- 14th August 2008
Christine and daughter Samantha Hamill.
The 17-year-old clocked the 12th-fastest time in the semi-finals of the 200m butterfly. Her time of 2:09.58 was almost two seconds off a personal best of 2:07.61 which she set at the Olympic trials in March.
Adding to the pain, her PB is better than the eighth-fastest qualifier for the final, American Elaine Breeden (2:07.73).
Coach Peter Gartrell said the disappointing result took him by surprise.
"Obviously something's gone wrong; it's a bit hard to understand what it is," he said from Beijing.
"It's just one of those things that happens in swimming."
Gartrell said Hamill's Olympic preparation suggested a finals appearance was there for the taking.
"She said she just didn't feel right in the water, and the reason behind that is hard to understand because she swam very fast in the warm-up and her time trials indicated a good swim was on the cards," he said.
"We're a bit dumbfounded, to be honest."
Gartrell admitted that the enormity of competing in her debut Games may have been a factor.
"That's a sensible thing to say - that's probably the case," he said.
"She seemed to be lacking a bit of energy; it wasn't the normal Sammy there.
"She's not alone. A lot of the kids on the Australian team in general haven't performed as well as they'd like.
"We just hope it doesn't flatten her too much. She trained extremely hard and did everything right, and everyone in sport knows nothing's guaranteed."
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