Sun Yang won't defend Olympic 1,500 free title in the pool

(Photo: The Associated Press)RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Sun Yang of China won't be defending his Olympic title in the men's 1,500-meter freestyle.

Sun finished 16th in Friday's preliminaries and only the top eight advanced to the final on Saturday, the last day of swimming at the Rio Olympics.

Gregorio Paltrinieri of Italy had the fastest time of 14 minutes, 44.51 seconds. He won the world title last year when Sun failed to appear on the blocks for the start of the grueling race.

Sun heard rumors that he wouldn't compete Friday, but he showed up and was clocked in 15:01.97.

"I actually think even if I finished in 16 or 17 minutes, as long as I did it, that would be encouragement for myself," he said…