Time catches up with Hoogie, new generation takes over

Beijing: Pieter van den Hoogenband brought the curtain down on his glittering career on Thursday after being swept aside by swimming's new generation in the Olympic Games 100m freestyle final.

The 30-year-old 'Flying Dutchman', bidding to become the first man to win three consecutive events at the Olympics, couldn't match Alain Bernard and Eamon Sullivan, missing out on the bronze by 8/100ths of a second with his time of 47.75sec.

'Hoogie' bows out after his fourth Olympics with seven medals -- three gold, two silver and two bronze and no regrets.

"They're strong, way too fast," van den Hoogenband conceded after Thursday's final won by Frenchman Bernard in 47.21 seconds.

"It's a new generation and now it's time to step aside. They did a great job.

"I'm from the generation of (Russian) Alex Popov, 48.21, you don't make the final with that time now - and that was a fantastic record. These are fantastic new swimmers. That was my last race."

The signs were there for 'Hoogie' back at the European championships in Eindhoven in March when Bernard smashed his world record of 47.60sec which had stood for almost eight years.

Now Australian speedster Sullivan holds the world mark at a mind-blowing 47.05 amid a frenetic year of world record brinkmanship with Bernard.

"Alain was fantastic, after what he did at the European Championships, he's a great, great guy," he said.

"He's a man of the future, he and Sullivan. Bernard did what he had to do."

Van den Hoogenband reminisced about his magnificent Olympic career, which started back in Atlanta in 1996.

"It's been a very long time, my fourth Olympics, my fourth 100 freestyle final, the Olympics is very special to me," he said.

"When I was 10 years old, watching Matt Biondi in Seoul, I was inspired and wanted to take part in the Olympics.

"As a kid, winning the gold is a dream, and I did win the gold, and I won it again in Athens.

"Alex Popov got two, Jonny Weissmuller got two, maybe it was possible to make history and try for a third, but in 2005 I had an injury setback."

Such is the competitor he is that van den Hoogenband gave it his best shot against the generation of younger, faster guns.

"After eight long years swimming 47 seconds, three times in a row, under my Sydney best, for me personally it's a big achievement," he said.

"I was close to the bronze. It's weird, I was only thinking about ways to win the race, but it was impossible with people like Eamon and Bernard."