Slow starter Bernard makes up for lost time

By Julian Linden

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Alain Bernard was a slow starter and is now in a hurry to make up for lost time.

The 25-year-old Frenchman caught everyone's attention when he broke three world records in three days at this year's European championships in the Netherlands and he has assumed the title of the world's fastest swimmer.

He started by breaking the men's 100 meters freestyle world record of 47.84 seconds set by Dutchman Pieter van den Hoogenband at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

The following day, Bernard lowered his own record by a tenth of a second to 47.50.

On the next day, he broke Eamon Sullivan's 50 freestyle world record, stopping the clock at 21.50, although his mark lasted only four days before the Australian reclaimed it.

Bernard started competitive swimming when he was eight but there were no early signs he was a champion in the making. He initially swam backstroke and medley before concentrating on freestyle in his teens.

A lanky man, he told his coach Denis Augin he wanted to become a serious competitor. He has spent the past seven years building up his frame and is now heavily muscled.

Bernard's progress was stalled by recurrent back pain before he started to make his mark in 2006 when he won the 100 gold medal at the European short-course championships.

The following year, he clocked 48.12 at the French championships and won a relay bronze at the world titles in Australia, but this year has been by far his most fruitful.

As the world record holder he is favorite to win the blue-ribbon sprint in Beijing, although his performance has served only to raise the standard in men's sprinting with Sullivan, Americans Jason Lezak and Garrett Weber-Gale, dipping under van den Hoogenband's old mark.

(Editing by Robert Woodward)