April 26, 2008

DUNKIRK, France - Former Auburn swimmer Fred Bousquet punched his ticket to the 2008 Beijing Olympics on Saturday as he won the 100m butterfly at the French Olympic Trials.

The 2008 Olympics will be the third for Bousquet after he competed for France in Sydney in 2000 and Athens in 2004.

He made the team on Saturday by winning the 100m butterfly, setting a new national record with a time of 51.50. It was the second time for Bousquet to break the national record at the meet as he also set a new mark in the semifinals with a time of 51.83, breaking his national record time of 52.29 set earlier this month.

Bousquet was second overall coming out of the preliminary with a time of 53.02.

He followed the win in the 100m fly by taking third in the 50m freestyle with a time of 21.72. The third-place finish in the 50m free is the second of the Trials for Bousquet as he also finished third in the 100m free with a time of 48.71.

Bousquet finished behind Amaury Leveaux, who won the 50m free with a time of 21.38 - just a tenth of a second off Eamon Sullivan's World record time of 21.28. In the semifinals, Bousquet clocked a time of 21.60, inside the old World record time of 21.64 held by Alexander Popov.

With Bousquet added to the list, Auburn now has nine current and former swimmers on national teams for the Olympics this summer. Also heading to Beijing in August are George Bovell (Trinidad & Tobago), Cesar Cielo (Brazil), Kirsty Coventry (Zimbabwe), Alana Dillette (Bahamas), Jeremy Knowles (Bahamas), Jana Kolukanova (Estonia), Alexei Puninski (Croatia) and Matt Targett (Australia).