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No regrets as Thompson ends Olympic career on high
SYDNEY, Sept 23 (AFP) - Jenny Thompson ended a glittering Olympic swimming career on Saturday with another relay victory and a world record. The 27-year-old American says she has no regrets that she failed to achieve her longtime dream of an elusive Olympic individual gold. Thompson has achieved eight gold medals, all in relays, from three Olympics, a record for a female. But her bid to earn a solo gold during her final Games crumbled when Dutch swimmer Inge de Bruijn emerged as the dominant female in the pool, Although she has not reach her goal, Thompson showed little sign of disappointment after the US women's 100m medley team earned her another relay gold and smashed the world record. "I'm at peace with what's happened," said Thompson, whose Olympic medal tally amounts to 10, also a record for a female swimmer. "The individual gold medal is not as important to me as it was." Thompson and team-mates BJ Bedford, Megan Quann and Dara Torres clocked 3:58.30 to beat the world record of 4:01.67 set by China in 1994. "My dream was to come here and do the best that I can. I fell a little short of that, but these relays mean so much to me and just to end on that kind of note meant a lot to me," added Thompson, who will go to medical school next year. Thompson had already won two relay golds in Sydney before Saturday's race, but her hopes of winning an individual title were dashed when she finished fourth in the 100m butterfly and tied third in the 100m freestyle with Torres. Thompson won two gold medals at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and a silver in the 100m freestyle. She failed to make the US team in an individual event at Atlanta but won three golds in relays. It was also the final Games for Torres, at 33 the oldest female swimmer to win an Olympic medal, who came out of a seven-year retirement to be the first American to swim in four Olympics. Torres, who also won bronze in Saturday's 50 metres freestyle and shared bronze with Thompson in the 100m freestyle, will be drawing the curtain on an Olympic career which has seen her achieve eight medals. "I guess its just hit me that it's all over," said a tearful Torres, whose first Olympics were at Los Angeles in 1984 and who has becomethe first swimmer to win Olympic golds 16 years apart. Torres said that she had been determined to compete in Sydney and was inspired by the words of Eleanor Roosevelt that she keeps by her bedside: "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dream." "Fifteen months ago, I just wanted to be an alternate in the relay," said Torres. "This has been an awesome journey and I've learned so much this past year. Coming here and winning medals is a dream come true." Torres was 17 when she won her first Olympic gold medal, in the 4x100m free relay at the 1984 Games. She added relay silver and bronze in 1988, and another relay gold in 1992.
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