Liu earns China's first swimming gold as Kitajima makes double-double
14/8/2008 17:53
China made a 1-2 finish in the women's 200m butterfly final with Olympic
debutant Liu Zige winning gold in a world record time today at the Beijing
Games.
It's the host nation's first swimming gold of the Games and only its
third since the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, where it grabbed four.
That
unexpected win lifted China's medal tally to 18 golds, six silvers and five
bronzes.
In front of thousands of home crowd at the Water Cube, Liu clocked
two minutes 04.18 seconds to chop over a second off the previous mark set by
Australian Jessicah Schipper in 2006. Her compatriot Jiao Liuyang came second in
2:04.72, and Schipper was third in 2:06.26.
"I didn't expect that I could
swim so fast, and I was so surprised to win the gold in a world record time,"
said Liu.
On a day without Michael Phelps gunning for a medal, Japan's Kosuke
Kitajima took center stage in the pool when he won the men's 200m breastroke
final to repeat the double breastroke gold he claimed in Athens four years
ago.
The 25-year-old, who won the 100m breaststroke on Monday in world-record
time, cruised to victory in the 200m in an Olympic record 2:07.64, just outside
the world record of 2:07.51 he set in Tokyo in June.
He is the first man to
sweep the breaststroke gold medals at two straight Olympics.
"I was not
thinking about winning two gold medals at two consecutive Olympics," he said.
"That was never my goal. I was just focused on doing my best in
Beijing."
Also in swimming, France's Alain Bernard took gold in the men's
100m freestyle in 47.21, just 0.11 seconds ahead of Eamon Sullivan of Australia.
Both men had set world records in the semifinals.
The Americans' perfect
record in the women's 800-meter relay ended when Australia took the gold medal
in a world-record 7:44.31. The US, which has won every gold medal since the
event was introduced in 1996, finished third behind China. The US also held the
previous record of 7:50.09 set at last year's world championships.
Seventeen
more gold medals are scheduled today, in which Michael Phelps doesn't go for a
medal.
Phelps, who is seeking to break Mark Spitz's record of seven golds in
one Games, set in 1972, has won five gold medals at the Games and 11 overall.
Xinhua
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