US swimmer Katie Hoff's ambitious Olympic program might have taken a toll on her. Having won a silver and a bronze, the 19-year-old finished one place off the podium twice on Wednesday.

With five individual events on her Beijing schedule and at least one relay, Hoff was expected to be the female Michael Phelps and produce similarly golden results. But while Phelps has pocketed five golds, Hoff is still struggling to get her first.

Hoff won a bronze in the 400-meter individual medley on Sunday, where she went in as the world record holder, and added a silver in the 400m freestyle on Monday.

On Wednesday, Hoff swam two finals in less than one hour and finished fourth in both women's 200m freestyle and 200m individual medley.

Hoff's missing out on the podium surprised many spectators. But to some of her competitors, her fall in Wednesday's races is not a surprise.

"According to how she swam the semifinals, I knew that here (Federica) Pellegrini is going be the main one," Slovenia's Sara Isakovic, who won silver in women's 200 freestyle, said. Pellegrini won the gold medal.

"For me just swimming my main events is hard enough. I just don't know how she is feeling. Because you really need a lot of endurance, psychological preparations to really fill out the program," Isakovic said.

"The competition is tough in every race. For me, sometimes it's not a good idea (to swim so many events). It's really important to focus on your main event. Not just try to win maybe five gold medals," she said.

Hoff didn't comment on the effect of her busy schedule, but her coach Paul Yetter admitted that racing so many events at the Olympics has made Hoff "fatigued"

"She is fatigued, and there is a difference between being mentally fatigued and physically fatigued. It's tough to handle all these races in a mental way," Yetter said.

The coach said Hoff has the capability of racing multiple events and the girl has done it many times. "At some point, you have to take a chance to go out there and win. But everything you plan on doing doesn't always work like that."

In the 2007 World Championships, Hoff raced in five events, winning three golds.

Despite missing out on the podium, a weary Hoff said she was not upset. "I would have liked to medal but I got my first personal best of the meet and I think that's a good effort. I can't be upset with that and I'm just moving on to the next heat."

On Thursday, Hoff will race in the women's 800-meter freestyle heats, which is also her last individual event in the Beijing Olympics.

(Xinhua News Agency August 13, 2008)