Olympics: Tao Li misses out on 100m butterfly finals

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http://www.todayonline.com/Sports/EDC120729-0000010/Tao-Li-misses-out-on-100m-fly-final

Swimming star Tao Li believes she could have had a better chance of reaching the women's 100m butterfly final if not for disruptions to her training programme in the past year.

On Saturday, the 22-year-old's hopes of a medal at the London Olympics ended after her time of 58.18secs in the heats at the London Olympic Park's Aquatic Centre was not enough to see her post a top-eight finish to advance into Sunday's final.

Her effort saw her placed 10th out of 16 semi-finalists, as American Dana Vollmer posted the fastest time of 56.36 and is the favourite for the gold medal.

"For my standard, had I not gone through a change of coach, I could have gone up a notch," said Tao Li, who has struggled with poor form for over a year.

"Perhaps the timing (of the change) was just too short (to the Olympics). Nonetheless, I'm still happy to have been able to post these times today under such circumstances."

Tao Li became the first Singaporean swimmer to reach an Olympic final when she clocked a then-Asian record of 57.54secs in the semi-finals at the 2008 Beijing Games, eventually finishing fifth.

In August last year, she parted ways with former coach Barry Prime as she felt the programme did not suit her, and Englishman Ian Turner was named her current coach a month later.

But the decision to change coaches raised concerns coming just a year before the London Games. It was also her second change of coach in as many years, after splitting with Peter Churchill the previous year.

Tao Li had qualified for Saturday's semi-finals after clocking 58.34 in the heats on Saturday morning, but always knew she had to be in her best possible form to stand a chance of reaching the final again.

"... based on my performance today, I can get even better."