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Swimming: Popov, van den Hoogenband Out American Gary Hall Jr., the defending Olympic champion, and teammate Jason Lezak qualified for the 50-meter freestyle semifinals yesterday, but two of their biggest rivals failed to advance. Two-time Olympic champion Alexander Popov of Russia and Pieter van den Hoogenband of the Netherlands, the 2000 bronze medalist, didn't make the 16-man evening semifinal. Americans Michael Phelps and Ian Crocker moved on to the evening 100 butterfly semifinal, while Diana Munz and Kalyn Keller made the 800 freestyle final, set for Friday. Van den Hoogenband, the 100 free gold medalist, was 17th in 22.56 -- just three-hundredths of a second out of the last berth. Popov, 32, tied for 18th with a time of 22.58 seconds -- well off the world record of 21.64 he set in June 2000. Hall, who tied teammate Anthony Ervin for gold at the Sydney Games and finished second to Popov in 1996, was fastest in 22.04. Frederick Bousquet of France was second in 22.24 and Bart Kizierowski of Poland was third in 22.26. Kizierowski trains with Hall in Berkeley, Calif. Lezak of Irvine, Calif., was seventh in 22.33. The results were as surprising as the 100 free, when Popov was eliminated in the semifinals, Lezak and Crocker were knocked out in the preliminaries, and Hall didn't qualify in the event at the U.S. trials. ``We'll miss him,'' said Bob Bowman, a U.S. assistant and Phelps' coach. ``He's such a great ambassador for this sport, but it's like a heavyweight boxer. They won't go out until they're knocked out. Maybe this is a sign it's time to move on.'' Van den Hoogenband blamed his failure on the exciting aftermath of his victory in the 100 freestyle Wednesday night. He got about four hours' sleep, staring at the ceiling of his room before stepping out on the balcony to see the sights. ``It was such a big night for me,'' he said. ``I am so very happy.'' Who Are We ? | About THISDAYOnLine.com | THISDAY People | Contact Us © Copyright 2000 Leaders & Company Limited

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