Tao Li wins first gold medal at swimming world cup

Contributed by Zal Dastur

Singapore Sports School, Saturday, November 1, 2008, – Singapore swimming sensation, Tao Li, thrilled the home crowd at the Singapore Sports School by taking the gold medal in the 100 metre butterfly at the FINA Swimming World Cup, her first competition since the Olympics.

Tao Li, who is a student of the Singapore Sports School, won in a pool she has swum in many times before, and made her home advantage count. She trailed behind Marieke Guehrer of Australia in the first half of the race but came in strongly to take gold in a time of 56.85 seconds. Marieke eventually finished third. Tao Li’s time is just half a second off the World Cup record set by Natalie Coughlin of 56.34 seconds in New York in 2002.

Tao Li had been on a break since the Olympics and had not been training as much as she usually does as a result of exams in school. When asked what she thought of the win, she said, “I didn’t expect to win and coming in the top three would have been good enough for me. When I heard the crowd cheer at the end, I thought it was because I came in third, I had no idea that I had won until I looked up at the times. So I am very happy.”

Tao Li came 6th in her other event of the day for the 50 metre backstroke with a time of 29.15 seconds. Tao Li had suffered a minor cramp before the event which hampered her time.

Olympic gold medalist Oussama Mellouli was also in action for Tunisia. Oussama came off a fantastic swim at the FINA/Arena Swimming World Cup in Sydney where he dominated the event winning six gold medals. Oussama has definitely kept up his form by winning gold for two of his three events and getting silver in the other. In the 400 Individual Medley, Oussama relied on his best stroke, the freestyle, and came from behind to beat Brazilian Thiago Pereira with a time of 4 minutes 02.93 seconds. Oussama also won gold in the 400 metre freestyle comfortably beating the field in a time of 3 minutes 42.37 seconds. In his final event of the day Oussama got silver in the 100 metre Individual Medley, with Brazilian Thiago Pereira getting revenge and winning in a time of 52.74 seconds.

Australia was by far the most dominant country at today’s event taking gold in seven of the seventeen events with gold in events such as Women’s 200 metre freestyle with Kelly Stubbins and Sophie Edington winning the 50 metre backstroke.

Results - Day 1 FINA/Arena Swimming World Cup Singapore

Women’s 800 metre Freestyle

Name Country Time
Melissa CORFE RSA 8:35.75 min
Katheryn MEAKLIM RSA 8:44.22 min
Joyce WIEGERSMA NZL 8:45.16 min

Men’s 100 metre Freestyle

Name Country Time
Stefan NYSTRAND SWE 46.78 secs
Mitchell PATTERSON AUS 47.60 secs
Tom MILLER AUS 48.09 secs

Women’s 200 metre Freestyle

Name Country Time
Kelly STUBBINS AUS 1:56.38 min
Melissa INGRAM NZL 1:56.64 min
Kara Lynn JOYCE USA 1:58.32 min

Men’s 50 metre Breaststroke

Name Country Time
Cameron VAN DER BURGH RSA 26.37 secs
Christian SPRENGER AUS 26.86 secs
Eduardo FISCHE BRA 27.12 secs

Women’s 100 metre Breaststroke

Name Country Time
Sarah KATSOULIS AUS 1:05.70 min
Tara KIRK USA 1:06.33 min
Joline HOSTMAN SWE 1:06.42 min

Men’s 400 metre Individual Medley

Name Country Time
Oussama MELLOULI TUN 4:02.93 min
Thiago PEREIRA BRA 4:03.06 min
Yannick LEBHERZ GER 4:17.16 min

Women’s 100 metre Butterfly

Name Country Time
Li TAO SIN 56.85 secs
Sarah SJOSTROM SWE 57.39 secs
Marieke GUEHRER AUS 58.06 secs

Men’s 100 metre Backstroke

Name Country Time
Robert HURLEY AUS 50.28 secs
Ashley DELANEY AUS 51.18 secs
Peter MARSHALL USA 51.63 secs

Women’s 50 metre Backstroke

Name Country Time
Sophie EDINGTON AUS 27.56 secs
Fabiola MOLINA BRA 27.57 secs
Anastasia ZUEVA RUS 27.62 secs

Men’s 200 metre Butterfly

Name Country Time
Christopher WRIGHT AUS 1:54.38 min
Thiago PEREIRA BRA 1:54.61 min
Sam ASHBY AUS 1:58.01 min

Women’s 200 metre Individual Medley

Name Country Time
Katheryn MEAKLIM RSA 2:10.59 min
Svetlana KARPEEVA RUS 2:12.43 min
Natalie WIEGERSMA NZL 2:13.13 min

Men’s 400 metre Freestyle

Name Country Time
Oussama MELLOULI TUN 3:42.37 min
Robert HURLEY AUS 3:45.83 min
Nicholas FROST AUS 3:49.22 min

Women’s 50 metre Freestyle

Name Country Time
Therese ALSHAMMAR SWE 24.33 secs
Claire HEDENSKOG SWE 24.94 secs
Marieke GUEHRER AUS 24.94 secs

Men’s 200 metre Breaststroke

Name Country Time
Christian SPRENGER AUS 2:05.48 min
William DIERING RSA 2:09.09 min
Marco KOCH GER 2:10.48 min

Men’s 100 metre Individual Medley

Name Country Time
Thiago PEREIRA BRA 52.74 secs
Oussama MELLOULI TUN 53.12 secs
Cameron VAN DER BURGH RSA 53.26 secs

Women’s 200 metre Backstroke

Name Country Time
Melissa INGRAM NZL 2:05.63 min
Melissa CORFE RSA 2:06.34 min
Sophie EDINGTON AUS 2:08.83 min

Men’s 50 metre Butterfly

Name Country Time
Matthew JAUKOVIC AUS 22.82
Evgeny KOROTYSHKIN RUS 23.07
Mitchell PATTERSON AUS 23.55