Freestyle gold in Park's life

Park Taehwan: Won gold

"It is an honour to compete with the other swimmers here and it is also an honour for me to gain the medal in the Olympic Games."

Park Tae-Hwan
Quotes of the week

Men's 400m freestyle result:
Gold: Taehwan Park (Kor) 3:41.86
Silver: Zhang Lin (Chn) 3:42.44
Bronze: Larsen Jensen (USA) 3:42.78

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South Korea's Park Tae-Hwan claimed the gold in the Men's 400 metres Freestyle in Beijing on Sunday.

The 18-year-old was prominent throughout and pulled away at 200 metres before holding off a late surge from China's Zhang Lin who took silver.

Hot favourite Grant Hackett struggled, the Australian star finishing in sixth as Larsen Jensen of the United States claimed bronze.

Park swam the second-fastest time in history of 3:41.86, and he certainly needed to as he held off the flying finish if Zhang, who had the 17,000 crowd in a time of 3:42.44.

Hackett moves on to compete for a record third consecutive 1500m title later in the pool, but had to take his hat off to Park's swim.

Strategy

"I didn't have any specific strategy," Park said. "I think at first I shouldn't lag behind the other swimmers too much."

"It is a good result and thanks for the support of the South Korean people. I have tried my best.

"It is an honour to compete with the other swimmers here and it is also an honour for me to gain the medal in the Olympic Games."

Park defeated Hackett at the World Championships last year to make his breakthrough, and again the Australian had no answer.

"It was an awesome swim from Park," said Hackett.

"I thought it would be a 3.41 time that would win it, he did a great job.

"It's no big surprise, he has been improving steadily over the last few years and he swam the sort of time I wanted."