Aug 11 The rise and fall of a champion in Beijing  Aug. 11,
2008, 9:13 a.m. (ET)  BEIJING (AP) An inevitable rule of life is
that time eventually catches even the greatest champions, whose
triumphs and failures at the pinnacle of sports are measured in
fractions of a second. On Monday, at the Beijing Olympics, the
clock caught one of swimming's once-brightest stars, Laure
Manaudou of France.  Tick, tick, tick.  The rise and fall of
Manaudou, who came to the Summer Games as defending champion in
the 400-meter freestyle, is a story of speed and precocious
talent but also of treachery, of the follies of love and of
negotiating the passage from carefree adolescence to womanhood.
Somewhere along the line, as the months and days were counting
down to her rendezvous in Beijing, the once unbeatable Manaudou
got lost.  Tick, tick, tick.  In the Athens Olympics in 2004,
aged just 17, Manaudou had brought home France's first swimming
gold since Jean Boiteux in 1952. She added a silver in the
800-meter free and a bronze