Swimming: Thorpe breaks Olympic record in heats

SYDNEY - Ian Thorpe this morning quickly dispelled any thoughts that the pressure of Australian public expectation would weigh too heavily on his young shoulders, as he cruised to an Olympic record in the heats of the 400m freestyle in the Sydney Olympic pool.

"He's invincible" blared the headline in today's Sydney Daily Telegraph. It seemed on the mark as the 17-year-old local boy glided effortlessly through the water to win his heat in 3 minutes 44.65 seconds and stamp his class at the beginning of the Olympic swimming competition.

New Zealand's Jonathan Duncan was below par in the same event, his time of 3min 58.52sec being the 29th fastest in the heats.

Helen Norfolk broke her own New Zealand record in the 400m individual medley by more than a second but her 4min 46.42sec was not enough to earn a place in the final.

Also off the pace, as the Games got under way this morning, were the New Zealand women's basketball team who lost 52-75 to European champions Poland.

But coach Carl Dickel refused to blame the result on the team's delay in getting back to the athletes' village after last night's spectacular opening ceremony.

The team's affable leader, Les Mills, who had not uttered a public word of discontent since arriving in Sydney, slammed the organisers for not averting a crush as the thousands of athletes returned to their village after the ceremony.

He said it was disgraceful that athletes were herded like cattle and kept waiting in security checks, so a 15-minute walk from stadium to village stretched out to 70 minutes.

Most athletes competing today, however, wisely decided to miss the march which meant seven hours of standing, waiting and walking for participants.

- NZPA