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Xinhua - US swimmer Natalie Coughlin defended her Olympic title by beating hot favorite Zimbabwean veteran Kirsty Coventry in Tuesday's women's 100-meter backstroke.
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Natalie Coughlin of the US removes her goggles after her women's 100m backstroke swimming semifinal at the National Aquatics Centre during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, August 11, 2008. Coughlin clocked in 58.96 seconds to take the women's 100m backstroke gold medal at the Beijing Olympic Games here on Tuesday. [Agencies] |
Coughlin led the race from the start and was the first to reach the 50-meter turn with Coventry closely trailing behind. Conventry, who broke Coughlin's world record in Monday's semifinals, tried to catch up in the final 50 meters, but Coughlin managed to finish first.
Coughlin clocked in 58.96 seconds, well off Coventry's world record. Coventry was 0.23 seconds behind, settling for a silver.
"It hasn't really sunken in yet. When I first saw 'One' by my name, I thought I had made a mistake. It was such a fast time," Coughlin said excitedly.
Another US swimmer Margaret Hoelzer won bronze in 59.34 seconds.
"It's my first Olympic medal. It was really fantastic, really excited. You know, I knew I had to get out fast. Right now I just want to sit down and my legs are so tired," Hoelzer said.
France's Laure Manaudou, Athens bronze medalist, failed to reach the podium, ranked seventh.
BEIJING -- American 'super fish' Michael Phelps smashed his own world record of the men's 200-meter freestyle here on Tuesday to increase his gold medal count to three at the Beijing Olympics.
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US swimmer Michael Phelps smiles after the men's 200m freestyle swimming final at the National Aquatics Center in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games on August 12, 2008. Phelps broke the world record in the men's 200 metres freestyle with a time of one minute 42.96 seconds at the Beijing Olympics. [Agencies]
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Starting off unusually from Lane 6 as the fourth fastest qualifier for the final, the 23-year-old prodigy met no challenge at all to lead the squad of eight in his own pace.
After the first 50 meters, neither South Korean sensation Park Taewan nor American sprinter Peter Vanderkaay could reach Phelps' feet as he touched the wall first in one minute 42.96 seconds, shaving 0.9 second off the previous world record.
Park, who turns 19 next month, finished second with a brand new Asian record of 1:44.85, followed by Peter Vanderkaay in 1:45.14.
Phelps and teammates were on an extreme high after a remarkable win in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay Monday morning where they sensationally pushed themselves forward with veteran Jason Lezak's final stroke while five out of the eight teams surpassed the old world record mark.
But the prolific Phelps kept a cool head to swim his own race on Tuesday.
Phelps defended his title of the men's 400-meter individual medley also with a world record performance on Sunday. 上一页 [1] [2] [3] [4] 【已有很多网友发表了看法，点击参与讨论】【对英语不懂，点击提问】【英语论坛】【返回首页】
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