University medal hope Rebecca Cooke has qualified for the women's 800m freestyle final with a confident swim. She won her heat ahead of Japanese contender Ai Shibata, clocking eight minutes 28.47 seconds to record the second-fastest qualifying time.

Rebecca, a double Commonwealth champion and world championship bronze medallist over the distance, commented afterwards: 'It was a really good swim, I felt relaxedﾅ You obviously want to go faster in the final and I'm going to have to raise my game I'm sure, but I think I'm ready to do that.'

The Women's 800m freestyle final will be held in the Aquatic Centre, Athens, at 17:46pm, 20 August 2004.

A limited number of Internet Service Providers, and the UK academic network, JANET, are allowing live web multicasts of the action from Athens. You can watch the live video streams at:Athens Live

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First published: 20 August 2004