Saturday, August 16, 2008 - 12:16 PM

Michael Phelps has won the 100 metres butterfly final at the Beijing Games in thrilling fashion, drawing level with fellow American Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals at one Olympics.

Phelps claimed his seventh gold as he came from behind to beat Serbian Milorad Cavic by just 0.01 seconds.

The American touched in a new Olympic record of 50.58 seconds while Australian Andrew Lauterstein produced a magnificent swim to claim bronze in 51.12.

Cavic turned in 23.42 seconds, 0.62 ahead of a seventh-placed Phelps who shared a stare down with his Serbian rival on the starting blocks just seconds before the race start.

With his record bid seemingly slipping away, Phelps conjured his freakish ability to rein in Cavic before timing his touch a fraction better to complete yet another famous victory.

After becoming the leading gold medallist in Olympic history on Wednesday, the 23-year-old swimming sensation now needs victory in the men's 4x100m medley relay, the final event at the Water Cube, to claim his eighth gold.

"It feels like I'm dreaming ... I can't describe it," Lauterstein told Channel Seven after the race.

Saturday, August 16, 2008 - 12:34 PM

Britain's Rebecca Adlington broke the oldest world record in swimming as she won the women's 800 metres freestyle in Beijing today.

Adlington took the lead early on and was never seriously challenged as she hit the wall in 8 minutes, 14.10 seconds.

The swim finally erased the old record time of 8:16.22 which had stood for almost 19 years since being set by Janet Evans of the United States on August 20, 1989.

Adlington, who won the 400m freestyle earlier in the week, also became the first British swimmer to win two golds at an Olympic meet since 1908.

Trailing in her wake, Italy's Alessia Filippi and Dane Lotte Friis finished second and third respectively more than six seconds behind.

Australia's Kylie Palmer, one of the star's of Australia's 4x200m freestyle relay win, finished sixth in 8:26.39.

Saturday, August 16, 2008 - 12:57 PM

Australia's Jared Tallent has claimed the bronze medal in the gruelling 20 kilometres walk at the Beijing Olympics.

Tallent finished in 1 hour 19 minutes and 42 seconds behind Russian winner Valeriy Borchin, who gave his country its first-ever walking Olympic gold medal as he claimed gold in 1:19:01.

The 22-year-old Russian soldier beat 1996 Olympic champion Jefferson Perez of Ecuador (1:19:15) into second place.

Australian Luke Adams finished sixth.

Borchin - who served a one-year drugs ban in 2005/06 - had been swept up in a confusing story prior to the Games where his coach said that he had failed a drugs test, a story which was denied by the national team coach.

Rustam Kuvatov of Kazakhnstan set the early pace and was narrowly ahead after two kilometres just after the athletes had left the stadium.

Kuvatov's flirtation with Olympic fame came to an end just after the five-kilometre mark as he was caught and passed by Francisco Fernandez of Spain while Ireland's Robert Heffernan took closer order on his shoulder.

A group of 26 were now clear of the rest of the field.

At the eight-kilometre mark Fernandez - silver medallist in Athens and three times a silver medallist in the world championships - was joined up front by defending champion Ivano Brugnetti with Eder Sanchez of Mexico also prominent while Heffernan and Australia's Adams looked dangerous.

At the halfway mark Brugnetti and Fernandez shared the lead with the dogged Heffernan stalking them and Luis Lopez of Coloimbia on his shoulder in a lead group of 12.

Fernandez received a warning shortly afterwards as Heffernan surprisingly took the lead with Brugnetti in second and Fernandez third as the group contending for medals was whittled down to eight.

This trio alternated the lead but suddenly on the horizon appeared the menacing figure of Perez.

Perez, Brugnetti and Fernandez upped the pace and split the leading pack with Heffernan one of those dropped.

However, the Italian and the Spaniard were blown away as Borchin went up a gear and only Perez was capable of staying with him while Tallent moved into bronze medal position.

Though Perez hung on valiantly the Russian landed the killer blow two kilometres from the finish as he accelerated seemingly at will and opened up a decisive gap.

The Ecuadorean - who became the youngest ever winner of the walk in 1996 - could not reel him back in and dropped to his knees and made the sign of the cross on crossing the line as he bowed out after a glorious career.

Tallent by contrast cut a distressed figure as he threw up down the finishing straight but held on for third.

Saturday, August 16, 2008 - 12:24 PM

Australia's head swim coach says Grant Hackett is fit and ready to take on the world's best in the final of the 1,500 metres on Sunday morning.

Rumours of Hackett suffering from a respiratory illness were blown away last night as the two-time gold medallist set an Olympic record to qualify fastest for the final in a time of 14 minutes 38.92 seconds.

"I don't really know where those rumours came from," said head coach Alan Thompson.

"He had a bit of sinus stuff a couple of days ago, but he's been pretty good."

Thompson says Hackett's swim has set Sunday's final up as an epic battle.

"Never before has there been a final where everyone's had to go under 15 minutes (to qualify)," he said.

"Never before has there been a final where everyone's had to go as fast as that. So it's not just going to be, who is the fastest swimmer. It's going to be who can be the fastest swimmer twice."

After his race, Hackett said he had not known how fast he had been going.

"I had to go out there and swim a good pace tonight, place a good time, and it's just a matter of getting ready for the final," Hackett said.

"I was very surprised. I thought it was about seven seconds slower than the pace I was doing."

Thompson says all of the swimmers in the race will be focusing on their recovery regime ahead of the morning final.

"That's going to be the real killer," he said. "Who can back up, who can recover the best? It matters how you pull up again on Sunday."

Thompson said Hackett was a strong chance in the final, but by no means the favourite.

"We won't count our chickens before they're hatched," he said.

"The whole of Australia will be supporting Grant on Sunday in (his) quest. He'll be doing his darnedest."

Saturday, August 16, 2008 - 7:12 PM

Australian pair Drew Ginn and Duncan Free have won the country's sixth gold medal of the Beijing Olympics, taking out the men's pairs in the rowing.

Ginn and Free crossed the finish line in 6:37.44, just ahead of Canadian duo David Calder and Scott Frandsen, who clocked 6:39.55.

The Australian and Canadian boats were level pegging throughout the first half of the race but it was once they had passed the 1,000m mark that Free and Ginn pulled clear.

New Zealand's Nathan Twaddle and George Bridgewater finished third in 6:44.19.

It is Ginn's third rowing gold medal from as many Olympic Games, putting him on par with James Tomkins for the most gold medals by an Australian rower.

He revealed after the race that back pain had limited his training this week and it was touch and go whether he would compete.

"I have to be honest, we had a few touch and go moments," he said.

"I've had sciatica pain down my leg for the week.

"I just said I didn't want to know what the options were and all that sort of stuff.

"I didn't care. I wasn't going to go through the thing like 2000 again. It wasn't an option.

"At the start of the week there were a few hairy moments where we didn't know where it was going to go.

"So we haven't really rowed apart from the races. We were just about having the best row of our lives."

Free was ecstatic to win a first Olympic medal.

"From a week ago, and what's happened in the week, we've had a lot of highs and lows in emotions and thoughts," he said.

"Drew obviously didn't want to talk about it too much in terms of how bad it was, and I didn't want to ask him about it.

"I wanted him to row and it wasn't really an option planning to row with anyone else.

"For him to do what he's done with the injury he's had has been awesome.

"To get through the week in the minimal amount of work that we've done has been great."

The victory is Australia's first gold medal outside of the pool at the Beijing Games.

Tomkins has the chance to make it four gold medals in his career when he races in the final of the men's eight tomorrow.

Saturday, August 16, 2008 - 7:29 PM

David Crawshay and Scott Brennan have won Australia's seventh gold medal of the Beijing Olympics, taking out the men's double sculls in the rowing.

The Australians led from start to finish to win by more than a second in 6:27.77.

Estonians Tonu Endrekson and Juri Jaanson hunted down and passed Brits Matthew Wells and Stephen Rowbotham in the final 500m to snatch the silver.

Slovenia's world champions Luka Spik and Iztok Cop, the champions from Sydney eight years ago, were a huge disappointment, finishing sixth and last in the final.

Saturday, August 16, 2008 - 8:14 PM

The Australian team has taken silver behind Great Britain in the men's fours in the rowing competition at the Beijing Olympics.

The rookie quartet of Matt Ryan, James Marburg, Cameron Mckenzie-Mcharg and Francis Hegerty were mowed down by the more experienced British team of Tom James, Steve Williams, Pete Reed and Andrew Triggs Hodge.

It is Great Britain's third successive Olympics gold in the discipline.

The French team of Julien Despres, Benjamin Rondeau, Germain Chardin and Dorian Mortelette finished third.

Saturday, August 16, 2008 - 10:00 PM

Mark Spitz has used one word to sum up the performance of US countryman Michael Phelps who has matched his record of seven gold medals at one Olympics - epic.

Phelps, 23, won his seventh gold medal at the Beijing Olympics on Saturday when he touched out Serbia's Milorad Cavic by 0.01 second in the men's 100 metres butterfly final.

It put him on a par with Spitz's record and gives him a shot at topping that tally and bagging eight golds when he competes in his final event on Sunday, the 4x100m medley relay.

Spitz, 58, said he always knew someone would eventually match the benchmark he set at 1972 Munich Games.

"I wondered what I was going to say at this monumental time when it would happen and who I would say it to, and, of course, I thought I was going to say it to you (Phelps) for some time now," Spitz said.

"The word comes to mind: epic. What you did tonight was epic. I never thought for one moment you were out of that race.

"You represent such an inspiration to youngsters around the world."

As Phelps has bagged gold after gold at Beijing, the world's media has been hunting for Spitz to get his reaction to the swimmer rivalling his record after 36 years.

There were rumours that he was in Beijing, then that he was in Hong Kong, and then that he was at home in California.

However it turned out he was in Detroit, watching one of his two sons play in a basketball tournament.

After Saturday's race Phelps told NBC that he thought he had lost the race that earned him a extra $US1 million from sponsor Speedo which promised him a bonus if he matched Spitz's record.

"As soon as I took the last half stroke, to be honest, I thought I had lost the race," he told the US network that bought exclusive broadcasting rights to the August 8-24 Games.

"And that was the difference, 'cause if I would have glided then I would have come up short. I've been lucky enough over the last four years to have two pretty good finishes in Olympic finals. I guess I'm blessed."

Whether he wins an eighth gold medal or not, Phelps will leave Beijing as the most successful Olympian of all time.

By Saturday he had lifted his gold medal tally to 13, which easily tops the previous record of nine held jointly by Spitz, US sprinter Carl Lewis, Finnish distance runner Paavo Nurmi and Soviet gymnast Larysa Latynina.

Sunday, August 17, 2008 - 2:27 AM

Usain Bolt was so relaxed at the finish of the men's 100 metres sprint at the Beijing Olympics that he slapped his chest before he crossed the line and later said that the world record had not been on his mind.

The 21-year-old Jamaican produced a stunning performance to win the blue riband event in a new world record time of 9.69 seconds, beating his own mark by 0.03 of a second.

Richard Thompson of Trinidad and Tobago (9.89secs) took silver with Walter Dix of the United States snaring bronze in 9.91secs.

"I felt the world record earlier on," said Bolt, the first Jamaican to win the title.

"I came here just to win and I did just that. I didn't even know I'd broken the world record until I did my victory lap.

"Now I'm just concentrating on my two races coming up. I came here prepared and I'm going to try and do it the (100m and 200m double).

"I'm just happy. I wanted to please myself and I did that. I simply don't know (how fast I can go)."

Bolt said that the world record had not been on his mind.

"I didn't come here to set the world record because I am the holder, I came here to win," he said.

"I hope to win three gold medals, the 200 plus the relay.

"I am happy to make the country proud and to do it again for them in the 200m," added Bolt, who spoke to the Jamaican Prime Minister on the phone after his triumph.

Exuberant celebrations


Bolt's celebrations were understandably exuberant, taking off his golden shoes, kissing them several times, and draping himself in the Jamaican flag with several extravagant swishes as if he was a bullfighter.

"The celebration? It wasn't planned, I was just celebrating, I was pretty happy."

Dr Herb Elliott, Jamaican team chief doctor, immediately moved to scotch suggestions that the youngster was doped.

"I don't care about the rumours. He's been tested over and over again," said Dr Elliott, who has a PhD in biochemistry.

"I say to them to come down, come down and see our program, come down and see our testing and see how we operate. come down anytime, day or night. we have nothing to hide."

Bolt's compatriot and former world record holder Asafa Powell came fifth as six of the eight finalists finished under 10 seconds, a record for the Olympic final, which also equalled the 1991 world final in Tokyo when six men also dipped under the 10-second barrier.

Powell, who again failed on the big stage, paid handsome tribute to Bolt, who could well go on and add the 200m title later in the Games.

"He is the best ever sprinter and I've said that before," the 25-year-old said.

"He has run 9.69 and got the gold so he is definitely the greatest.

"It was a spectacular performance and he was definitely the best here. He could have run faster if he had run straight through the line."

Powell admitted he had simply run out of steam.

"I was feeling good but I didn't feel it in my legs. They died on me."

Bolt, who bettered compatriot Don Quarrie's silver medal from the 1976 Olympics when he finished second to a Trinidadian in Hasely Crawford, was headed by Thompson for the first part of the race but there was no contest once he got into his stride and went clear away from the field.

So commanding was his lead he eased up well before the line and held out his hands in celebration.

Rivals in awe


Behind him, Thompson showed the same impressive form the 23-year-old had displayed during the earlier heats to hold on to second, but he too was left in awe of the winner.

"It feels good to be here, to be part of history," Thompson said.

"It was good to finish behind him (Bolt) because there's no way anyone on earth could have beaten him tonight.

"To finish second to him that is a great accomplishment in itself.

"Usain is a great athlete. It was just a matter of time before he proved himself on this stage."

Dix, also an Olympic debutant, came on strong in the final metres to overhaul Powell, who lost out on fourth place to surprise package Churandy Martina of the Dutch Antilles.

Both Dix and Martina admitted that Bolt had been on another level.

"That was the greatest race ever," beamed 22-year-old Dix, who will take on Bolt again in the 200m.

"I can't be more satisfied with third place. He (Bolt) broke the world record, you can't ask for more."

Martina, who showed his international credentials with fifth and seventh in the 100m and 200m at last year's world championships, said Bolt could take the time down even further.

"Everyone could see what he did, he didn't even push through the line. It's an amazing time," the 24-year-old said.

World champion Tyson Gay, out of action for just over a month after suffering a hamstring injury before the Olympics, exited in the semi-finals earlier on Saturday, when he finished fifth.

Sunday, August 17, 2008 - 12:16 PM

Britta Steffen has completed the Olympic women's sprint double, winning gold in the 50 metres freestyle to add to her 100m Beijing title.

The German touched first in a Games record time of 24.06, reining in 41-year-old American Darra Torres by only 0.01 seconds.

Australian teenager Cate Campbell claimed bronze from lane five in a great time of 24.17.

"You can never learn experience, you have to experience it," Campbell told Channel Seven after the race.

"I'm stoked - an individual medal at my first Olympics. I couldn't have asked for anything better."

Libby Trickett, who claimed silver in the 100m, finished fourth in 24.25.