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Lauren Boyle was unable to back up her sensational morning effort and finished eighth in the Olympic womens 400m freestyle final tonight. Boyle swam 4min 03.63s to smash her own national record in the morning heats. In the final she was slightly sluggish and recorded 4min 06.25s. The race was won by Frenchwoman Camille Muffat in 4min 01.45s. Boyle, 24, was anything but downhearted after the final. It didnt pan out how I thought it would, she said later. But Ill take a 4min 03s any day. Ive learnt a lot from today. I havent swum such a fast heat before then had to come out in the evening for a final. I didnt handle it as well as I wanted. Boyle had hoped to have a quiet afternoon while she prepared for the final, but said her mind was whirring. I felt fine when we started, but I made the mistake of watching the big guns instead of swimming my own race. It was a fatal mistake. She now hopes to take her good form into the 800m freestyle. Im excited by whats happened here. I never dreamed Id make an Olympic final, so now Im very encouraged to keep on swimming." The other New Zealander in action this evening was Wellingtonian Gareth Kean in the mens 100m backstroke semi-finals. Kean, the 14th of 16 qualifiers for the semis, went out like a rocket and led in his semi at the halfway point. However, his pace slackened noticeably on the journey home and he finished eight in his race, 13th overall, in a time of 54.00s. In his heat he swam 54.26s. I wanted to have a decent shot at it. I definitely wanted to be aggressive, Kean said. I struggled a bit over the last 15 metres, but overall I was pretty happy. Kean said he was now looking forward to his other big race, the 200m backstroke. London 1908 Olympic Summer Games Gareth Kean Lauren Boyle
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