Laure Manaudou - Troubled waters

WHEN does a healthy sporting rivalry cross the line and become unhealthy? With the first piece of hate mail, or the onset of underhand tactics? Or, perhaps, in a volatile love triangle involving public spats, declarations of passion and an unfortunate set of nude photographs?

At the Beijing Olympics, sporting fans have been kept entertained by more than just the dazzling opening ceremony. A bitter love triangle has emerged between three swimmers: 21-year-old Frenchwoman Laure Manaudou; her 22-year-old ex-boyfriend, Italian swimmer Luca Marin; and his new girlfriend, 20-year-old Italian Federica Pellegrini, who just happens to be Manaudou's rival in the pool.

At the Athens Olympics in 2004, the then 17-year-old Manaudou was nicknamed "the mermaid" by the French media after winning a bronze, a silver and a gold – France's first swimming gold for more than 50 years. She returned home a hero and was courted by big-name sponsors. The following year she broke the 400m freestyle world record. Her dazzling career was going swimmingly.

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Until last year, that is, when 6'1" of dripping-wet muscle came on the scene in the form of Marin. Like many a teenager in the throes of new passion, Manaudou declared herself in love and announced that she was to leave her longtime French coach to train in Italy with her new boyfriend. "Between Italy and France," she declared dramatically, "I have chosen Luca Marin, the love of my life."

However, it soon became apparent that troubled waters surged beneath this tranquil surface. A few months later the club in Turin where she trained expelled her for laziness, and the young couple began arguing publicly at the poolside. At one point Manaudou threw the ring Marin had given her into the pool. In December, she broke off the relationship during the 2007 European Championships. Within hours, nude photographs of Manaudou in a variety of provocative poses, as well as a private video, had surfaced on the internet. Marin denied any involvement in this, saying that, while he did have a good gawp at them, "like everyone else", it was "ridiculous to think it was me who put them there". He also said he was "happy she was no longer my girlfriend".

Manaudou is now dating another swimmer, Benjamin Stasiulis. She said she felt "violated" by the fallout from the nude photographs, saying she "no longer dared wear a swimming costume. Whenever I typed 'Laure Manaudou' on the internet it was horrible. I felt humiliated."

She faced further humiliation on Monday, when not only did her ex-boyfriend's latest flame break her world record in the 200m freestyle but, in the final of the 400m freestyle, a race in which Pellegrini also swam, Manaudou finished last. She graciously said before the race that "The woman to beat, the woman to follow is Federica".

Afterwards, however, she was visibly deflated. "When everyone accelerated, I saw that I couldn't," she told French reporters. Questions as to why her fall from grace has been so rapid have largely been left unanswered, with Roselyne Bachelot, the French sports minister, saying simply: "A champion is a very fragile thing."

Fragile indeed. Over the past 12 months, Manaudou says, she has "been to hell". Yesterday she told French TV: "I'm asking myself if it's worth continuing. I don't even have the desire to swim any more. It's tough finishing seventh or eighth."

"When you swim at a high level, you have to make some sacrifices, but for most the sacrifice is worth it," says Andrena Hammond, a swimming coach at the Glasgow School of Sport who has coached national champions. "From the age of 11 or 12, they're swimming for 14-18 hours a week and don't get much free time."

Perhaps Manaudou was simply rebelling, or making up for lost time. But in falling for Marin so deeply and publicly, she may have paid a heavy price: her status as a once and future champion.

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