Newz Forum: OLYMPICS: Gary Hall wins second 50 freestyle gold

Gary Hall Jr. of the United States successfully defended his Olympic title in the 50-meter freestyle Friday night, edging Duje Draganja of Croatia by one-hundredth of a second.

Hall won in 21.93 seconds, Draganja took silver in 21.94 and Roland Schoeman of South Africa earned bronze in 22.02.

Jason Lezak of Irvine, Calif., finished fifth with a time of 22.11.

Hall shared the gold at the Sydney Games with countryman Anthony Ervin when they tied in 21.98. The 29-year-old from Phoenix was the silver medalist at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

Hall earned a bronze medal in Athens by swimming the preliminaries of the 400 freestyle relay, but won't match his four-medal haul from Sydney and Atlanta. U.S. men's coach Eddie Reese has said he doesn't plan to use Hall in the 400 medley relay Saturday, the last day of swimming.

Hall joined Alexander Popov of Russia as the only men to win consecutive 50 free titles. Popov didn't make it out of the preliminaries in Athens.