"At the end of the day I lost to someone who was Olympic champion in this event in 1992. I expected her to be there in the Olympic final in '96. I knew she was the one to beat. It's just the other way round now." In swim-speak the old stager, Michelle Smith de Bruin exchanged places with her equally aged rival, German Dagmar Hase, in the 400 metre freestyle final last night in Seville. Two children of the flower generation sat back and joshed about being born in 1969. This time the former East German star took gold, leaving Smith de Bruin to the slender pickings and another German, Kerstin Kielgass to the bronze. Defeat for Smith de Bruin - or second place?

At this stage, European silver could be perceived as crumbs from the table for the Olympic champion. Her target this week was to fatten the record books with five golds. In that respect the demands of five events were entered into the well-tried Smith de Bruin equation.

Ignore the level of competition, the heat, the pressure, the reputed five-figure sum guaranteed by sponsors for every gold medal pocketed. Above all, Smith de Bruin knows what her training can produce.

Some people's realities are different from others, and Smith de Bruin's swimming realities since last year have been remarkable to some and unbelievable to others. They are certainly different.

In Atlanta, against better opposition, Smith de Bruin coveted a third Olympic medal in a more highly pressurised competition. Yesterday in her third event involving six outings in three days she did not lose a race. She was beaten in a race.

Had she been beaten in the 200 metre freestyle on Wednesday it would have been because she is not primarily a sprinter or that it was the first time in a major event that she had competed over the distance. In the 400 metre freestyle, she is at home. Her strength, as good as it was in Atlanta, has always been her ability to set a tempo and maintain it for the entire race, perhaps even increasing it at the end. In Hase, she had met her match.

"I wasn't good enough at the end to win the gold medal but I swam the race as I wanted to and didn't have enough at the end. I have my own way of swimming and my own tactics. There is no reason for me to change my tactics because other people change their plans."

Against the grain, the Atlanta gold medallist surrendered in the final straight, to make liars of the entire army of experts at the San Pablo stadium. The woman who doesn't slow down just couldn't speed up and, after leading the race from the beginning, was overhauled in the final straight to lose gold by just half a second.

For a woman whose sequence of races in the three major championships since the 1995 European championships have yielded gold, gold, silver, gold, gold, gold, bronze, gold, gold, another silver certainly remains a decorative addition. Only Smith de Bruin will know the affect of this defeat on her confidence and prestige. Brief press interviews can only yield so much.

Smith de Bruin hit the 100 metre mark in second position, but by the 200 metre mark had inched ahead of the field, turning in two minutes 4.65 seconds. All through the second quarter she was still leading, with Hase and Kielgass chasing.

The Irishwoman turned at the 300 metre mark in 3:07.76, still leading the breaking pack. But in the final 50 metres, so often where Smith de Bruin destroys others, Hase moved up and powered her way to the front, leaving the reigning Olympic champion, surprisingly, stuck in the same gear. Hase touched at 4:09.58, with Smith de Bruin marginally behind, in 4:10.50.

"I was a little surprised, because I did expect people to be out further than me in the first 100 metres, and I was surprised that I was in the lead. But I was happy to take the lead because I figured that I was fit enough to take it out fast," said Smith de Bruin.

"If I waited until the last length and then sprinted there was no way I was going to be able to win. So what I did was my only chance of winning the race.

"I was really hurting through the last 50 metres, but all I could do was put my head down and fight. Because I gave it my best for the last 300 metres I felt coming down the last 100 metres that I just had to hold on. But I couldn't."

Smith de Bruin now has a rest day today as she will not swim the 800 metres freestyle event. She will tackle the heats of the 200 metres individual medley tomorrow, with the final scheduled for the evening and, finally, the 200 metres butterfly on Sunday.

The other Irish competitors had mixed fortunes yesterday. Nick O'Hare posted a personal best in the 100 metres freestyle. In the first heat of the morning the Dublin City University technician went out fast in the first length, turning in fourth position, before fading over the final 10 metres. He did not make the final, but his 52.11 seconds indicated progress from his former best time of 52.2.

Hugh and Adrian O'Connor, who are brothers, entertained the gallery with some sibling rivalry in the 200 metres backstroke. This time younger brother Hugh won out, beating his better known sibling for the first time over the distance in a major challenge, marking perhaps a changing of the guard.

Hugh's 2:06.08 represented a personal best with Adrian coming home in 2:08.42, although neither made the final.

Men

100 metres freestyle final: 1 A Popov (Rus) 49.09 secs, 2 L Frolander (Swe) 49.51, 3 O Roucklevitch (Blr) 49.84, 4 L Vismara (Ita) 49.93, 5 P Van Denhoogenband (Ned) 50.09, 6 Y Bruck (Isr) 50.14, 7 N Shackell (Gbr) 50.55, 8 N Ivan (Rom) 50.93. Heat One: 4 N O'Hare (Ireland) 52.11.

200m backstroke final: 1 V Selkov (Rus) 1:59.21, 2 E Merisi (Ita) 1:59.63, 3 R Braun (Ger) 1:59.91, 4 A Ruckwood (Gbr) 2:00.93, 5 M Strahija (Cro) 2:01.34, 6 S Battistelli (Ita) 2:01.75, 7 L Kalenka (Ger) 2:02.17, 8 B Sikora (Pol) 2:02.27. Heat One: 1 H O'Connor (Ireland) 2:06.08, 3 A O'Connor (Ireland) 2:08.42.

Women

400m freestyle final: 1 D Hase (Ger) 4 mins 09.58 secs, 2 M Smith de Bruin (Irl) 4:10.50, 3 K Kielgass (Ger) 4:10.89, 4 C Geurts (Ned) 4:11.23, 5 K Vlieghuis (Ned) 4:13.51, 6 N Chemezova (Rus) 4:13.81, 7 S Paduraru (Rom) 4:13.87, 8 O Lapunova (Ukr) 4:14.89.

100m backstroke final: 1 A Buschschulte (Ger) 1:01.74, 2 R Maracineanu (Fra) 1:01.84, 3 S Volker (Ger) 1:02.23, 4 O Kochetkova (Rus) 1:02.80, 5 S Price (Gbr) 1:03.41, 6 I Burczyk (Pol) 1:03.56, 7 E Grechoushnikova (Rus) 1:03.77, 8 S Valen (Ned) 1:04.13.

4x100m freestyle final: 1 Germany 3:41.49, 2 Sweden 3:43.69, 3 Russia 3:44.72, 4 Great Britain 3:45.83, 5 Denmark 3:46.74, 6 Netherlands 3:47.05, 7 Italy 3:48.97, Disq Spain.