The gold quest of Japan's swim king Kosuke Kitajima in Beijing seemed to become less rough as his arch rival American swimmer Brendan Hansen failed to book a spot in the men's 200-meter breaststroke race at next month's Beijing Games.

Kitajima's competition with Hansen is perhaps the fiercest international rivalry in swimming. They dueled out at key swimming events and held world records for 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke by turns.

In the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, despite holding both 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke world records, Hansen was defeated by Kitajima, settling for a silver in the 100 meters and a bronze in the 200 meters.

However, the following years witnessed Hansen's revenge. Kitajima has not beaten Hansen head to head since 2005 while the American, who will turn 27 in August, kept lowering world marks.

Two months before the Beijing Games, wearing Speedo's LZR Racer, Kitajima finished in 2 minutes, 07.51 seconds at the Japan Open, shaving almost a second off the previous mark of the men's 200 breaststroke set by Hansen in 2006.

Kitajima's performance greatly boosted Japan's fervor of obtaining swimming gold medals in Beijing and also prompted the Japanese Swimming Federation to allow Japanese swimmers to use the LZR in Beijing, despite its contract with domestic suppliers.

"I feel like crying," Kitajima was quoted as saying when he broke Hansen's 200-meter mark in June. Kitajima had qualified for both the 100 and 200 breaststroke events in the upcoming Olympics and was expecting a final showdown with Hansen in Beijing.

"I'm working my hardest to overtake him. He's been the leader in our discipline for a while now so I have to do my best in Beijing," Kitajima said earlier.

Hansen's unusual performance was clearly a shock to Kitajima. "I had a feeling that he might not win but never thought he would fail to make the team (for the 200 in Beijing)," Kitajima said in a statement issued by his management.

But the 25-year-old swimmer said Hansen's failure to qualify for the 200 won't affect his game plan. "I just have to go out and do what I have to do."

While failing to get qualified for the 200 breaststroke race, Hansen, current world record holder of the 100-meter breaststroke, did get a berth for the 100-meter race in Beijing.

Despite the setback, Hansen, who was run down in the 200-meter trial by his training partners Scott Spann and Eric Shanteau, is not willing to give up the fight against Kitajima.

"It's going to be hard, but I'm going to show these guys what they need to do to beat him," said Hansen after the U.S. Olympic trial, apparently referring to Kitajima.

Relatively small at 177cm and 72kg, Kitajima is known for his efficient swimming style, compared to Hansen's powerful strokes. He made his name by being the first swimmer to set a new world record at the Asian Games when he did so in the 200m breastroke in 2002 at Busan.

Looking ahead to the Beijing Olympics, Kitajima said his record breaking performance last month gave him a lot of confidence. "The only thing I have in mind right now is to win the gold in Beijing, " Kitajima was quoted by the Associated Press.

(Xinhua News Agency July 14, 2008)