Oussama Mellouli showed no sign of slowdown in the final meters of the men's 1,500-meter freestyle final on Sunday to grab the second ever Olympic gold for Tunisia, smashing Australian giant Grant Hacett's dream of third consecutive Olympic title in the event into pieces.

Mellouli kept himself in the fifth or sixth place out of eight finalists in the first 14 laps, then began to surpass the big fish ahead of him one by one in a modest way. The 24-year-old swimmer grabbed the leading position after the 1,050-meter mark and never conceded it until touching the wall first in 14 minutes and 40.84 seconds.

After trailing Canadian Ryan Cochrane in the first three laps, the 28-year-old Hackett pushed himself forward a little. But after the 550-meter mark, the two time Olympic champion in the grueling event was either behind Cochrane or Mellouli, having to settle for a silver medal in 14:41.53.

Cochrane took the bronze in 14:42.69 while Chinese pair Zhang Lin and teenager Sun Yang ranked seventh and eighth.

Hackett has remained a benchmark swimmer in the men's 1,500- meter freestyle since 2001, when he clocked 14:34.56 in the world championships in Fukuoka, Japan. The mark remained intact over the past seven years.

(Xinhua News Agency August 17, 2008)