BEIJING, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- The United States continued its dominance at Beijing's Water Cube on Tuesday, pocketing three golds and leaving one to Australia.
American super fish Michael Phelps started the gold haul of team U.S.A. with a new world record in the men's 200-meter freestyle, increasing his gold medal count to three at the
Beijing Games.
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 pool of eight in his own pace. South Korean sensation Park Taewan and American sprinter Peter Vanderkaay took the silver and bronze medal respectively.
"I just wanted to get out there and try to hold on. I knew Park was going to have a good last 50 meters, so I tried to start as far ahead as I could in the first 100 to 150 meters," Phelps said.
Minutes after Phelps's victory, teammate Natalie Coughlin defended her Olympic title by beating hot favorite Zibabwean veteran Kirsty Coventry in women's 100-meter backstroke.
Coughlin led the race from the start and was the first to reach the 50-meter turn with Coventry closely trailing behind. Coventry, 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.
This was the first gold medal for the U.S. women in what has been seen as a disappointing Games in the pool for them so far.
Cougnlin clocked in 58.96 seconds, well off Coventry's world record. Coventry, also Athens silver medalist, was 0.23 seconds behind, settling for a silver. Another U.S. swimmer Margaret Hoelzer won bronze in 59.34 seconds.
Coughlin won five medals in Athens, including two golds, two silvers and a bronze. Wiping tears from face, the 26-year-old US. swimmer said the win was incredible.
"It hasn't really sunk in yet. When I saw the 'One' by my name I thought they had made a mistake. Then I saw my name there and I realized that I'd got it," Coughlin said.
In the men's 100m backstroke, reigning Olympic champion American Aaron Peirsol repeated glory in 52.54 seconds, 0.35 second faster than his previous personal best of 52.89 which he set one month ago at the U.S. national swimming Olympic Trials.
"I'm a little bit excited, a little bit relieved, absolutely elated," said the 25-year-old backstroke specialist.
Peirsol's teammate Matt Grevers, 23, grabbed the silver in 53.11 seconds, a little bit off his personal best of 52.99 which the Olympic rookie achieved in the semifinals on Monday.
Russian Arkady Vyatchanin and Hayden Stoeckel from Australia had to share the bronze for completing the race both in 53.18 seconds.
"I looked up and saw Matt next to me, I was elated. Stuff like that is like a dream come true," said Peirsol. "We're trying to go one and two the whole time. It didn't matter who was one, we just wanted to go one and two."
It was Australia's Leisel Jones that broke America's monodrama at the Water Cube by winning women's 100m breaststroke.
Jones, who charged for the Olympic gold eight years ago as a 15-year-old, led the race to the finish and touched the wall in 1:05.17 seconds, pocketing the long-awaited Olympic gold.
Jones said she was more "relieved" than excited. "It's been a long journey. (I feel) A lot of relief. I get everything I possibly could," she said. Jones won silver in 100 breaststroke in Sydney. In Athens, she succumbed to nerves in the final, settling for a bronze.
U.S. swimmer Rebecca Soni, who got the chance to race against Jones as replacement of Jessica Hardy, was second after Jones. Soni got the berth in the 100 breaststroke only several days before the
Beijing Olympics when Hardy withdrew from the Olympics following a positive test of banned substance. Austria's Jukic Mirna won bronze in 1:07.34.
Also on Tuesday, Katie Hoff entered the women's 200 freestyle final as the second fastest. Italian Federica Pellegrini, who set a new world record in Monday's heats, entered the final ranking third.
Hoff also made it to the final of women's 200 individual medley, in which she will face several strong competitors, including Zimbabwean Kirsty Coventry, Australian Stephanie Rice and teammate Natalie Coughlin.
Editor: Xinhuanet
