体坛英语资讯：French joy on final day of European swimming championships

Gold medals won by Frederick Bousquet and the men's 4x100 medley relay team gave France overall top spot in the medals table the European swimming championships which closed here on Sunday.

France finished the meet with 8 gold, 7 silver and 6 bronze in the pool events, ahead of Russia in second place with 7-4-1. Britain came third with 6-6-6, while hosts Hungary collected 6-4-3 to finish in fourth place. Sweden (3-3-4), Germany (2-5-2), Denmark (2-2-2), Italy (2-0-4), Norway (2-0-3), Belarus (1-1-0), Spain (1-0-3) and Poland (1-0-1) completed the top 12 in the table.

Bousquet, who set a new meet record in the 50m freestyle semifinal, won the final with a time of 21.49 seconds. Stefan Nystrand of Sweden took silver in 21.69 seconds while Bousquet's compatriot Fabien Gilot came third in 21.76 seconds.

"I came to these European Championships to win the 50 meter freestyle and I did it," Bousquet said.

In the men's 4x100 medley relay, an unstoppable French team (Camille Lacourt, Hugues Duboscq, Frederick Bousquet, Fabien Gilot) set a new championship record of 3:31.32 seconds to cap a magnificent week for French swimming.

"My obligation was to retain the lead given over to me by Lacourt, because Bousquet and Gilot already competed in the 50 meter finals this afternoon," Hugues Duboscq said. "Our entire French swimming team couldn't have dreamed of a better conclusion."

Russia (Stanislav Donets, Roman Sludnov, Evgeny Korotyshkin, Evgeny Lagunov) claimed silver in 3:33.29 seconds while the Netherlands (Nick Driebergen, Lennart Stekelenberg, Joeri Verlinden, Sebastiaan Verschuren) took bronze with a time of 3:33.99.

Hungary capped a marvelous week in the pool with a double gold and silver medal haul. In the men's 400 meter individual medley, local hero Laszlo Cseh cruised to victory in a time of 4:10.95 seconds ahead of David Verraszto who timed 4:12.96. Gal Nevo of Israel took bronze in 4:15.10 seconds.

"I knew that I would not have to do too much to win this race. This is why I swam very relaxed on the last 100 meters," Cseh said.

The raucous crowd also cheered home a Hungarian one-two in the women's 200 meter butterfly final. Katinka Hosszu was in fourth position after the first leg and only overtook her compatriot Zsuzsanna Jakabos in the final 50 meters in a thrilling finish to claim gold in 2:06.71 seconds ahead of Jakabos in 2:07.06.

"At the 150 meter turn I put everything I had into it. I believed I could catch up with Zsuzsanna, so for my last event at these championships I am very happy for the Hungarians that we finished one and two," Hosszu said.

It was a day of mixed emotions for Yulia Yefimova. The Russian won gold in the women's 50 meter breaststroke final, her second of the week, with a new championship record time of 30.29 seconds. Britain's Kate Haywood won silver in 31.12 seconds while Jennie Johannson of Sweden in 31.24 seconds.

Yefimova dived early on her leg in the women's 4x100 medley relay final however, which led to the disqualification of the Russian team. Britain (Gemma Spofforth, Kate Haywood, Francesca Halsall, Amy Smith) who finished behind Russia in second place with a time of 3:59.72 were given the gold medal.

"A great championship finish with a success for our team," said Francesca Halsall. "I'm pleased to have got two gold, two silver and one bronze, a medal tally I never expected. It's amazing."

Sweden (Henriette Stenkvist, Joline Hoestman, Therese Alshammar, Sarah Sjoestroem) won silver in 4:01.18 seconds while Germany (Jenny Mensing, Caroline Ruhnau, Daniela Samulski, Silke Lippok) took bronze with a time of 4:03.22.

Britain also won gold in the women's 400m freestyle. Olympic champion Rebecca Adlington who had finished a disappointing seventh earlier in the week in the 800 meter freestyle comfortably took gold with a time of 4:04.55, ahead of Ophelie Cyriell Etienne of France in 4:05.40.

"After an awful performance in the 800 meter free, this race was very important to me," Adlington said. "I was mentally strong enough to come back and I also noticed that the French girl was leading for a long time."

In the women's 50 meter freestyle final, Sweden's Therese Alshammar won gold with a time of 24.45 seconds, ahead of Hinkelien Schreuder of the Netherlands in 24.66 and Britain's Francesca Halsall, who won the 100 meter freestyle, in 24.67 seconds.

"It's going so well for me, so why should I retire? The 2012 Olympics are a great goal," Alshammar said.

Elsewhere on the final day of competition, Tania Cagnotto and Francesca Dallape won gold for Italy in the 3 meter synchro springboard final, while Sascha Klein of Germany won gold in the men's 10 meter platform final.

Germany topped the diving medal table with 5 gold and 3 silver, followed by Ukraine (2-2-0), Italy (2-1-0), Russia (1-3-5), Sweden (0-1-0), Belarus (0-0-2), and Spain, Britain and Hungary (all 0-0-1).

In the synchronized swimming events, Russia won all four gold medals, while Spain and Ukraine won four silvers and four bronzes respectively.

In the open water swimming competitions, Italy topped the medals table with 2 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze, followed by Greece (1-3-1), Germany (1-2-1), Russia (1-0-2), Netherlands and Ukraine on one gold apiece and France (0-1-1).