French swim boss not worried by mediocre Manaudou

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2008

GLASGOW (AFP) — French swimming chief Claude Fauquet insisted Sunday he was not worried by the mediocre performance of star swimmer Laure Manaudou at the Scottish championships, her last meet before the Olympics.

Olympic 400 metres champion Manaudou, seen as one of France's top gold medal hopes in Beijing, won the 1500m freestyle on Sunday in 16min 54.98sec, far from her personal best of 16:03.01 recorded two years ago.

At the same meet, the 21-year-old triple world champion came second in the 100m backstroke, in which she is world champion and the Olympic bronze medallist, and she also placed second in the 200m backstroke.

But Fauquet, attending the US Olympic swimming trials in Omaha, Nebraska, said: "I'm not worried. She swam the 1500m. It's important...