The pool portion of the Beijing Games swimming competition came to a close tonight with 2 World Records in the men’s and women’s Medley Relays.
The night started with the women’s 50 Free final. In a thrilling finish, Germany’s Britta Steffen completed the sprint sweep, out touching Dara Torres (24.07) at the wall in 24.06, just .01 of a second. Australia’s Cate Campbell completed the podium with a 24.17 finish. Team USA’s Kara Lynn Joyce hit 6th in 24.63.
The next event was the men’s 1500, where Tunisia’s Ous Mellouli won his country’s first Olympic medal with a 14:40.84. Reigning 2-time 1500 gold medalist Grant Hackett settled for the silver, touching the wall in 14:41.53. Canada’s Ryan Cochrane locked up the bronze with a 14:42.69 effort. American Larsen Jensen completed his race in 14:48.16, giving him 5th overall.
The women’s medley relay crown went to Australia as they put together a blistering World Record effort of 3:52.69. Finishing just after the Aussies were the Team USA foursome of Natalie Coughlin, Rebecca Soni, Christine Magnuson, and Dara Torres in 3:53.30; a new American Record. China picked up the bronze medal with a 3:56.11 finish.
The men also established a new World Record as they reversed the 1-2 finish from the women’s final. Team USA’s quarter of Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hansen, Michael Phelps, and Jason Lezak downed their own global mark with a 3:29.34 performance. The Aussie team challenged for the gold throughout the race before finishing second in 3:30.04. Japan’s relay surged to the lead during Kosuke Kitajima’s breaststroke leg and ended up claiming the bronze medal in 3:31.18.
With the win Phelps surpassed Mark Spitz as the owner of the most gold medals from a single Olympic Games with 8.