It was another day of wrenching mixed emotions Friday for Island athletes at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Victoria swimmer Ryan Cochrane, the bronze medallist from the 2008 Beijing Olympics, emphatically qualified for the 1,500-metre freestyle final at the London Aquatics Centre and goes for gold Saturday at 11:30 a.m.But there was grim disappointment across town at the Games rowing venue in Eton where Dave Calder of Victoria and fellow Brentwood College-grad Scott Frandsen, the Beijing Olympic silver medallists, faded to sixth in the pairs final while New Zealand took the gold.The Island pair had titled their four-year quest as 聯Turning Silver into Gold.聰 That didn聮t leave much room for error, but unlike the timidity of some Canadian athletes, they really laid it out there. But it will not be. Beijing will remain the career highlight for both Calder and Frandsen, who tightly hugged on the deck following the London final.Calder, a father of two young children, had taken a two-year leave of absence from his position with the provincial government in order to pursue his dreams of Olympic gold and will now go back to his job.聯Obviously, it聮s not what we wanted,聰 said Calder, by phone from London.聯We performed less than we thought we were capable of doing. We didn聮t do what we wanted to do. For an athlete, that聮s the hardest thing. That was the beautiful part about Beijing, that we did what we set out to do. Here in London, we didn聮t live up to expectation. But that聮s part of sport. Most importantly, I聮m proud of myself for having represented sa国际传媒 at four Olympics,聰 added the 34-year-old Calder, who will retire from competitive rowing.聯In my career in high performance sport, I聮ve seen the good and the bad. In Victoria, we have so many Olympians in so many sports and an incredible support system in place for high performance sport and I want to be a part of that moving forward and want to help the next generation of athletes.聰In the pool, there was no question this time for Cochrane. The Claremont Secondary graduate overcame the bitter disappointment of failing to qualify for the 400-metre freestyle final by qualifying for the 1,500-metre free final Friday at the London Games.聯Step [one of two] complete. Felt good this morning in prelims. Now I have 36 hours to get ready for the swim of my life,聰 tweeted Cochrane.The final, in which Cochrane will try to improve on his bronze medal from Beijing 2008, is set for 11:30 a.m. on Saturday.Cochrane made sure of being there by decidedly winning his preliminary race Friday by nearly eight seconds to qualify third overall among the eight men who have made it through.Cochrane was across in fourteen minutes, 49.31 seconds, the third-best qualifying time on the day behind world-record holder and defending world champion Sun Yang of China (14:43.25) and defending Beijing Olympic champion Oussama Mellouli of Tunisia (14:46.23).Cochrane was silver medallist to Yang last year in Shanghai at the 2011 world championships and few in swimming believe those placings will shift at the London Olympics. But at least the Islander has a lane in the final to prove those prognosticators wrong. That聮s more than can be said for the 400-metre freestyle.Although the 400 free is Cochrane聮s minor event, he headed into the 2012 Summer Olympics wanting two medals at London. But those hopes were dashed during the whiplash 400-metre free qualifying process in which Cochrane won his preliminary race but still placed ninth and failed to advance.But when defending Olympic 400-metre free champion Park Tae-hwan of South Korea was disqualified for false-starting in his preliminary race, Cochrane was bumped into eighth spot and the final. The South Koreans, however, appealed the disqualification, Park was reinstated for the final and Cochrane was again out.But he聮s definitely in for the 1,500 free, which is the lanky Island swimmer聮s specialty.Ironically, the well-beaten Park was the second-place finisher behind Cochrane in Friday聮s third qualifying preliminary race.Saturday聮s 1,500-metre freestyle is shaping up as a classic with Cochrane, Yang, Park, Mellouli, Connor Jaeger of the United States, Daniel Fogg of Great Britain, Gregorio Paltrinieri of Italy and Mateusz Sawrymowicz of Poland comprising the field. Cochrane will be in lane three.
