By Martin Petty
TOKYO (Reuters) – Kristof Milak knew he would have no chance of beating his own world record in the 200 metres butterfly on Wednesday even before he hit the water after the Hungarian ripped his swimming trunks 10 minutes before the Tokyo Olympics final.
While Milak tightened his iron grip on the event, winning gold in an Olympic record of 1:51.25, he was furious that his bid for a world mark had been ruined after being forced to change his swim wear at the last minute.
“They split 10 minutes before I entered the pool and in that moment I knew the world record was gone,” he told reporters after marching off the pool deck to collect his kit bag and pulling out the torn trunks.
“I lost my focus and knew I couldn’t do it … but I am happy with the gold medal.”
Milak turned third at the midway point after South African Chad le Clos tried to pull away but the Hungarian powered off the wall and opened up an insurmountable lead down the third length to finish four metres ahead of Japan’s Tomoru Honda, who trailed in almost 2.5 seconds later.
Italian Federico Burdisso won bronze.
Milak, 21, has the top four career times in the event and his mark on Wednesday beat the previous Olympic record set by Michael Phelps.
(Reporting by Martin Petty and Aaron Sheldrick; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
