Thursday, August 14, 2008 - 2:09 PM

Jessicah Schipper has taken bronze in the women's 200-metres butterfly at the Beijing Olympics.

Chinese pair Zige Liu and Liuyang Jiao completed the quinella, both going under Schipper's two-year-old world record of 2:05.40.

Liu, 19, clocked an astonishing 2:04.18 in winning the gold medal, ahead of Jiao in 2:04.72.

It is only the second time in Olympic history that China has finished first and second in an Olympic swimming event.

"I didn't feel pressure before the competition, I just tried to relax," Liu said.

"In the race I just swam at my own pace, not caring about the others.

"My coach told me that we have two Chinese swimmers in the final, so I didn't need to force myself to win gold, but that I just needed to try my best."

Schipper, who was under world record pace up to halfway, could not sustain her challenge and dropped back slightly to finish third in 2:06.26.

Nevertheless, she says she was very happy with her performance. "I came into this meet wanting an individual medal and I've got two of them," she said.

"The last 50 metres was hard work, it hurt quite a bit and the Chinese girls swam an awesome race. I am very happy for them both."

It was China's first win in the 2008 Olympic swimming competition and was greeted with a huge roar by the predominant home crowd inside the Water Cube.

Liu had signalled she was up for the challenge for the gold by posting the fastest qualifying time.View historical results for the women's 200m butterfly.