After disappointment, with the Great Britain Women's 4x200m freestyle relay team narrowly missing out on a place in the final, the strength of team spirit within the GB camp was evident. Embracing the Olympic spirit, the relay team supported each other and we keen to emphasise the need to stay positive for the rest of the team, especially after the spectacular performances we have seen thus far.
It was not all disappointment for the British team though. The first event of Day 6 of the swimming in Beijing saw Fran Halsall win her heat of the Women's 100m freestyle by 0.6 seconds in 53:39, becoming the first British female to go sub 54 seconds on two occasions. Halsall qualified fifth for tomorrow's semi-final, just one place behind Natalie Coughlin (USA) who won the 100m backstroke, silver in the 4x100m freestyle relay and bronze in the 400m Individual Medley and one place in front of current World record holder, Australian, Lisbeth Trickett who qualified for tomorrow's semi-final in sixth.
In the Women's 200m breaststroke heats, Kirsty Balfour, silver medallist at last years World Championships was very disappointed with her swim, nearly four seconds off her personal best. A tearful Balfour said "I tried my best, it's in the hands of God now." Unfortunately she did not qualify for the semi-final finishing in twentieth position in 2:27.87.
Rebecca Soni (USA) qualified in first with a new Olympic record of 2:22.17, with Olympic Champion in the 100m breaststroke and World record holder in the 200m breaststroke, Liesel Jones qualifying in second in 2:23.81.
Team GB consisting of Jo Jackson, Mel Marshall, Hannah Miley and Fran Halsall regrettably, narrowly missed out on the final of the Women's 4x200m freestyle relay, finishing in ninth place. A decision was made to rest Caitlin McClatchey and Rebecca Adlington in anticipation of a medal place in the final. After the swim Marshall said "it was a medal opportunity for us, now we are going to have to watch, I just don't understand what happened. We tried our best and have to pick ourselves up for the rest of the team." Halsall continued, " it was 100% maximum effort and we couldn't have asked for anymore, we have to stay positive for the sake of the team. Jackson concluded, "we were really looking forward to it, I can't put into words how disappointed we all are. We all gave 100% but at the end of the day it wasn't good enough." The team were clearly disappointed but on a positive note it was very evident that there was a great team spirit and support, both between the relay girls and within the whole of the British team.
France qualified fastest with a new Olympic record of 7:50.37, followed by the USA in 7:52.43 and Italy in 7:53.38.
