Swimmming: Robins and Talbot-Cameron eliminated

New Zealand swimmers Monique Robins and Scott Talbot-Cameron did not make the semifinals in their Olympic events on Wednesday morning.

Robins was eliminated from the women's 100m freestyle after finishing sixth in her heat and Talbot-Cameron, who finished second in his 200m backstroke heat, was not fast enough to make the final 16.

Robins, the youngest member of the full Olympic squad at 16, clocked 57.85 seconds in her heat, more than a second off her best of 56.72secs.

She would have had to swim 56.33secs to have made the semifinal - 0.14secs under the New Zealand record held by Olympic teammate Vivienne Rignall.

Scott Talbot-Cameron, son of Australia head swim coach Don Talbot and New Zealand assistant Olympic coach Jan Cameron, finished second to Dutchman Klaas-Erik Zwering in his heat of the men's 200m backstroke.

Zwering stopped the clock at 2min 0.94secs, with Talbot-Cameron, 20, swimming 2min 01.53secs - a tenth of a second off his best.

Fourth after 50m, Talbot-Cameron finished stoutly and looked as if he might be the first New Zealander to win a heat at these Olympics.

But any hopes he held of being among the 16 fastest into tonight's semifinals were doused when 13 swimmers from the next two heats beat his time. Zwering was 14th fastest in the heats, and will swim in the semifinals.

Talbot-Cameron was usually half a second faster over the final 50 metres than today, and that was the margin he missed the semifinal by.

Robins also had nothing left after swimming was 33rd fastest in the 100m freestyle heats, after coming into the Games ranked 27th.

Both swimmers suffered from youth and inexperience, Jan Cameron said, but she was at a loss to put her finger on why they underachieved.

New Zealand is now in danger of failing to place a swimmer in an Olympic final for the first time since 1964.

"I don't understand it. We've worked harder this time than we've ever worked before," Cameron said.

- NZPA