Dutchman dents Thorpe's invincibility

Ecstasy: Van den Hoogenband celebrates his gold

As Holland's Pieter van den Hoogenband proves Ian Thorpe is not superhuman, the BBC's Bob Ballard assesses the day three action in the Olympic pool.

So, Ian Thorpe is human. He is fallable after all. Pieter van den Hoogenband proved that in a breath-taking finish to the final of the 200m freestyle.

Just two 100ths of a second separated the Dutchman and the 17 year old Australian superstar in the semi-finals, and they turned together with 50m to go in the final.

The capacity crowd of 17,500 at the Aquatic Centre expected to see the Thorpedo's kick finish see off van den Hoogenband, but instead it was the other way around.

The man from Maastricht pulled out all the stops to equal the world record he set in the semis of 1 min 45.35 seconds.

Thorpe took silver with Italy's Massimilano Rosolino adding a bronze to the silver he won in the 400 freestyle.

Paul Palmer set a new British record, 1.47.95, in finishing 5th, with team-mate Jamie Salter in siixth.

The other big surprise in the pool came in the women's 100m breaststroke.

Unbeatable

Penny Heyns from South Africa has been virtually unbeatable over the last two years and was expected to add Olympic gold this time to her victory in Atlanta four years ago.

At 50m that looked very much on, but she faded badly to allow Megan Quann of America to claim gold with the youngest member of the Australian swim squad, Leisel Jones, who has just turned 15, taking silver. Heyns had to settle for bronze.

Hickman: 10th fastest in the 200m butterfly

Lenny Krazelburg is halfway towards his expected backstroke double after comfortably winning the 100m event in a new Olympic record of 53.72. Australia again claimed silver, courtesy of Matthew Welsh.

Diana Mocanu took the women's race in an Olympic best time of 60.21 seconds.

There were mixed fortunes for Britain's top two butterfly swimmers. Stephen Parry qualified for Tuesday's final of the 200m in 7th place with a time of 1.57.23, James Hickman, just over half a second slower, was 10th fastest.

For the second time in less than 10 hours, the world record holder Tom Malchow set a new Olympic record. The new mark 1.56.02, clearly marking him out as favourite to take gold.

BBC Online contributor Sue Rolph will have to concentrate on the 50 and 100 freestyle events now after finishing a disappointing 12th fastest in the semi-finals of the 200 metres individual medley.