It's a Burmester Comm Games bellyflop

07:35, Oct 05 2010
BRONZE: New Zealander Hayley Palmer celebrates her bronze medal in the final of the women's 50m freestyle.
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BRONZE: New Zealander Hayley Palmer celebrates her bronze medal in the final of the women's 50m freestyle.
SILVER: Glenn Synders with his silver medal from the men's 50's breast stroke.
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SILVER: Glenn Synders with his silver medal from the men's 50's breast stroke.
New Zealand women's team members react as they compete in the 4x200m freestyle relay during the Commonwealth Games.
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New Zealand women's team members react as they compete in the 4x200m freestyle relay during the Commonwealth Games.
Gareth Kean in action.
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Gareth Kean in action.
New Zealand's Glen Synder on his way to setting a shortlived men's 100m breaststroke Commonwealth Games record.
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New Zealand's Glen Synder on his way to setting a shortlived men's 100m breaststroke Commonwealth Games record.
New Zealand's Penelope Marshall after her womens 100m freestyle semi at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
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New Zealand's Penelope Marshall after her womens 100m freestyle semi at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
New Zealand's Emily Thomas after her women's 100m backstroke semi at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
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New Zealand's Emily Thomas after her women's 100m backstroke semi at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
New Zealand's Melissa Ingram is all smiles after her women's 100m backstroke semi at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
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New Zealand's Melissa Ingram is all smiles after her women's 100m backstroke semi at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
New Zealand's Natalie Wiegersma narrowly misses out on third place in the final of the women's 200m medley.
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New Zealand's Natalie Wiegersma narrowly misses out on third place in the final of the women's 200m medley.
New Zealand's Daniel Bell checks the scoreboard to find he finished fourth in the men's 50m backstroke final.
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New Zealand's Daniel Bell checks the scoreboard to find he finished fourth in the men's 50m backstroke final.
New Zealand's Moss Burmester powers through the water in his heat of the 200m men's butterfly at the Delhi Commonwealth Games.
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New Zealand's Moss Burmester powers through the water in his heat of the 200m men's butterfly at the Delhi Commonwealth Games.
New Zealand's Moss Burmester gets ready for his heat in the men's 200m butterfly at the Delhi Commonwealth Games.
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New Zealand's Moss Burmester gets ready for his heat in the men's 200m butterfly at the Delhi Commonwealth Games.
New Zealand's Marie Boyle powers through the water in her heat of the 200m women's freestyle at the Delhi Commonwealth Games.
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New Zealand's Marie Boyle powers through the water in her heat of the 200m women's freestyle at the Delhi Commonwealth Games.
New Zealand's Daniel Bell gets under way in his 50m backstroke heat at the Delhi Commonwealth Games.
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New Zealand's Daniel Bell gets under way in his 50m backstroke heat at the Delhi Commonwealth Games.
New Zealand's Penelope Marshall after her 200m women's freestyle heat at the Delhi Commonwealth Games.
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New Zealand's Penelope Marshall after her 200m women's freestyle heat at the Delhi Commonwealth Games.
New Zealand's Natalie Wiegersma begins her women's 200m individual medley event at the Delhi Commonwealth Games.
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New Zealand's Natalie Wiegersma begins her women's 200m individual medley event at the Delhi Commonwealth Games.
New Zealand's Natalie Wiegersma looks to the scoreboard after competing in the women's 200m individual medley at the Delhi Commonwealth Games.
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New Zealand's Natalie Wiegersma looks to the scoreboard after competing in the women's 200m individual medley at the Delhi Commonwealth Games.
New Zealand's Hayley Palmer after competing in the women's 50m butterfly at the Delhi Commonwealth Games.
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New Zealand's Hayley Palmer after competing in the women's 50m butterfly at the Delhi Commonwealth Games.

Moss Burmester may well be on the verge of hanging up his togs after he bombed out on the opening day of swimming at the Commonwealth Games last night.

Burmester swam more than two seconds below his personal best in the 200m butterfly heat and failed to make it to the final he won four years ago, finishing a lowly 10th.

He made for a disconsolate figure when the ramifications of his time – 1.58.93, well below his season's best of 1.57.43 – hit home. Visibly upset, the 29-year-old said he would now reset his goals and focus on today's 50m and Thursday's 100m butterfly heats.

"It felt OK. I thought the time would be faster than that," he said.

"It felt like I was going faster in the race time-wise. I am very disappointed with that. I still have events tomorrow and Thursday, so I will focus on them now."

The 50m and 100m butterfly heats could be Burmester's last in New Zealand togs. The multiple national record holder, who finished fourth in his specialist 200m fly at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, has admitted that he is starting to think about life after swimming.

This result may expedite his decision to retire.

Since full-body swimsuits were banned, he has struggled to post internationally competitive times.

In the wake of last night's disappointing result he admitted the decision by Fina had been a severe blow to his career.

"It has taken a while to adjust and get used to that," he said.

The theory is that Burmester's big-boned frame was assisted by the streamlined suit more than his rivals.

His Kiwi team-mates made a more successful start when they took their first plunge in the impressive SPM Aquatics Complex just minutes before their team spearhead dipped out yesterday.

Daniel Bell and Gareth Kean made it through to last night's semifinal in the 50m backstroke, as did Hayley Palmer in the women's 50m butterfly.

Lauren Boyle, in the women's 200 freestyle, and Natalie Wiegersma in the 200m individual medley, progressed through to the finals which were swum overnight.

Tash Hind and Penelope Marshall, in the women's 200m freestyle, joined Burmester as the only swimmers who failed to make the cut.

Kean said he'd been battling illness in the two weeks leading up to the event. He was therefore rapt to swim a personal best 25.80, the fifth-fastest time in the heats.

Bell was the sixth-fastest qualifier, in 25.90.

Palmer also posted a personal best and said it was a relief to get her campaign under way.

Fairfax Media