Park wins world swim title
South Korea’s Park Tae-hwan won the men’s 400-meter freestyle title yesterday at the FINA world championships in Melbourne, Australia. [YONHAP]
Park is the first South Korean to win a medal at the biggest international swimming event outside of the Olympics.
The 18-year-old beat second place finisher Oussama Mellouli of Tunisia in a time of 3:44:30. Defending champion Grant Hackett of Australia was third. Park sprinted past three swimmers over the final 50 meters to win the gold medal.
In December, at the Asian Games, Park swept the 200-meter, 400-meter and 1,500-meter events, and he was named the athlete of the games.
The win boosted Park’s chances for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where his nation hopes he’ll bring home the country’s first Olympic medal in swimming.
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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