The international governing body of swimming has commended teen swimming phenom Park Tae-hwan after he won the men's 400-meter freestyle at the World Swimming Championships on Sunday in Australia.

An article that appeared Monday on the Internet home page for the Fédération Internationale de Natation Amateur (www.fina.org) detailed Park's performance and included a photo from his award ceremony.

The swimming sensation, who goes to Kyunggi High School in Seoul, stormed to a world title with 3:44.30 seconds in the event, beating out Oussama Mellouli of Tunisia and Australia's Grant Hackett.

The federation said the 17-year-old Park gave Korea its first-ever gold medal at the world swimming championships, citing his explosive last-minute turn that catapulted him forward.