Beijing Olympic Games

Updated: 2008-08-12 21:07:28

(BEIJING, August 12) — The US national anthem was played three times at the Water Cube in the morning session of the swimming events. First in Men’s 200m Freestyle final, where the record-setting Michael Phelps took his third gold medal, then in Women’s 100m Backstroke in which Natalie Coughlin won, and finally in Men’s 100m Backstroke where Aaron Peirsol grabbed both the gold medal and his world record back. The fourth gold medal went to Leisel Jones in Women’s 100m Breaststroke.

Phelps set his 24th career world record in an Individual Olympic event and collected his ninth career Olympic gold medal after winning the Men’s 200m Freestyle event in 1:42.96, and now leads the all-time list of most individual world records, surpassing Mark Spitz (USA) who recorded 23 individual world records from 1967-1972. If he wins a medal in the Men’s 200m Butterfly, he will become the first athleteto earn double digit Olympic medals. Such an event is highly probable considering his outstanding performance in the semifinal this morning where he finished first and perfectly matched his Olympic record time (1:53.70) set yesterday in prelims.

Natalie Coughlin won a gold medal in the Women’s 100m Backstroke final in an American record time of 58.96. Coughlin, the defending Olympic champion, was the second fastest qualifier into the final and sped out hard to see off the challenge from Monday’s world record setter Kirsty Coventry from Zimbabwe .This was the first gold medal for the US women in what has been a disappointing Games in the pool for them so far.

Aaron Peirsol set the 200th world record in Swimming in the history of the Olympic Games, winning the gold medal in the Men’s 100m Backstroke in 52.54sec. Peirsol’s record was the 10th world record set at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in Swimming. He qualified fifth fastest in the semifinal but returned to the pool all powered up and won comfortably in 52.54, beating the world record of 52.89 he set in July.

The only gold medalist in this morning’s session who was not in a star-spangled swimming suit was Leisel Jones who confirmed her dominance of Women’s Breaststroke in the 100m final, winning the gold medal in a time of 1:05.17. Jones is the world record holder and world champion in this event.