(BEIJING, August 15) -- Michael Phelps continued his attack on winning a record eight gold medals on Friday pocketing his sixth at the National Aquatics Center, this time in the 200m Individual Medley.
He swam yet another world record, saving 0.57 seconds off the mark he set at the US trials in July this year.
Phelps was never in trouble and led comfortably throughout, touching the wall in 1:54.23.
The field stayed with Phelps during the Backstroke and Butterfly legs but the defending Olympic champion took the lead during the Breaststroke leg and pulled away in the final 50 meters of Freestyle.
Phelps has dominated every event he has entered, including the 400m Individual Medley.
Hungarian Laszlo Cseh put in another great performance, again edging out Phelps' teammate Ryan Lochte to win the silver medal in a European record time of 1:56.52.
Cseh now has a pair of silver medals from the Individual Medley events after finishing second to Phelps in Sunday's Men's 400m Individual Medley.
With only 10 minutes to recover after winning the gold in the 200m Backstroke, Lochte could only manage the bronze medal in a time of 1:56.53, just one hundredth of a second behind Cseh.
Lochte now has a pair of bronze medals in the Individual Medley events after finishing third in Sunday's 400m Individual Medley.
The Women's Heptathlon High Jump final was held at the National Stadium on day seven of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 15, 2008 in Beijing, China. Hyleas Fountain of the United States finished the event in first place with a height of 1.89m.
(BEIJING, August) -- The US gymnastics team finished the first six days gold-less. It could only watch as China won gold in the Men and Women's Team event.
However, today was another day. Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson starred in the Women's All-Around final to win the gold and silver medals. The bronze medal went to China's Yang Yilin.
In the first rotation of four, Johnson was ranked first after a difficult move gave her 15.875 in the Vault. China's best gymnast, Jiang Yuyuan, was unable to land cleanly after dismounting from the Vault and scored a low 14.825. Once a gymnast's score dips below 15.000 on a single apparatus, their medal chances skydive. Liukin and Yang Yilin earned 15.025 and 15.175 in the Vault respectively.
Uneven Bars specialist Yang, who is the best-ranked qualifier in the Uneven Bars final, caught up to Johnson after she scored an outstanding 16.725 on the Uneven Bars in the second rotation. Liukin was the second-highest scorer on the apparatus with 16.650. Johnson, whose specialty lies with the Floor Exercise and the Vault, finished with 15.275.
Johnson competed first on the Beam in the third rotation. She scored 16.050, her first Beam score above 16.000 at Beijing 2008. Yang finished with a Beam score of 15.750. Liukin, who competed last in this rotation, needed 15.975 to replace Yang in first place, which she did with an outstanding 16.125.
Liukin held onto her lead with 15.525 in the Floor Exercise, taking her total score to 63.325. Johnson finished with a total score of 62.725 and Yang finished with a total score of 62.650.
Britta Steffen of Germany won the gold medal of the Women's 100m Freestyle in a time of 53.12 seconds at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on Friday.
The silver medal went to world record holder Lisbeth Trickett of Australia, who clocked 53.16, while the bronze medal was taken by Natalie Coughlin of the United States, who touched the wall in 53.39.
(BEIJING, August 13) -- Stephanie Rice of Australia underlined her dominance in the Medley events when she broke her own world record to win the Olympic Women's 200m Individual Medley gold medal in a new mark of 2:08.45.
Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry took silver and American Natalie Coughlin the bronze.
James Blake of the United States ousted Roger Federer of Switzerland in the Men's Singles quarterfinals at the Olympic Games here on Thursday.
