Fast facts: swimming

By Compiled from Times wires

The hometown crowd got its thrills from Susie O'Neill and the men's 800-meter freestyle relay team, but Tom Malchow captured the United States' sixth gold in four days of finals. The highlights:

AUSTRALIAN RELAY TEAM: Spurred by rousing cheers of "Thorpey! Thorpey!" Ian Thorpe led the 800 freestyle team to a world-record 7 minutes, 7.05 seconds, capturing his third gold medal. He also has a silver. Michael Klim, Todd Pearson and William Kirby also swam on the team. The U.S. team, which had won the event in 10 of the past 12 Olympics, took the silver in 7:12.64. "I'd never thought we'd beat these guys, but (coach Don Talbot) told us we could be the best in the world," Kirby said. "If not this time, it's going to be a really hard fight." Australia's record was the 11th world mark set or tied in four days at the pool.

SUSIE O'NEILL: The Australian touched off a raucous celebration by winning the 200 freestyle in 1:58.24 as the crowd chanted "Susie, Susie." O'Neill barely had time to dry off before she returned for the 200 butterfly semis. The world record holder led eight qualifiers for the final in 2:07.57. "I tried not to listen (to the crowd) because they were putting me off," O'Neill said. "I just closed my eyes and tried to swim my own race."

TOM MALCHOW: The U.S. athlete won the 200 butterfly in 1:55.36, bettering his Olympic mark of 1:56.02 set in Monday's semifinals. Malchow, who won silver in 1996 at Atlanta, fell .17 short of his world record, set in June. He was fifth after 50 meters and second going into the final 50. "I stuck with my wits," he said. "When you're a competitive person, it's hard to sit back and watch people ahead of you, but you've got to pick your moments."

YANA KLOCHKOVA: In the 200 individual medley, she won her second gold of the games -- the first two in Ukraine's swimming history. She won in an Olympic record 2:10.68, breaking the 8-year-old mark of 2:11.65 set by Lin Li of China. Cristina Teuscher of the United States won bronze in 2:13.32. "I'm happy I stuck it in there for a medal," she said. "You can't complain when you get a medal in the Olympics."

ALSO NOTABLE: Pieter van den Hoogenband set the stage for his second gold medal by becoming the first man to swim the 100 freestyle in under 48 seconds -- 47.84 in a semifinal. "I don't know if anyone can catch him," American Gary Hall Jr. said. "Anything can happen in an Olympic final."