Olympic highlights: August 13, 2008

August 13, 2008 August 13, 2008 is the 5th major day of the 2008 Olympic games, the below article lists some of the highlights.

Women's 200m individual medley
Australian Stephanie Rice set a new world record and won the gold medal in the final of the women's 200m individual medley with a time of 2:08.45, approximately 0.5 seconds quicker than the previous world record, which was also set by Rice.

Kirsty Coventry, who was representing Zimbabwe, won the silver medal and set a new African record, while Natalie Coughlin finished in third place with a time of 2:10.34.

Women's 200m freestyle
Italian Federica Pellegrini set a new world record and won the gold medal in the final of the women's 200m freestyle with a time of 1:54.82 minutes.

"I have reached three great aims — gold, the world record and getting past the wall of 1:55," said Pellegrini after the race.

Sara Isakovic, who was representing Slovenia, won the silver medal, while Jiaying Pang finished in third place with a time of 1:55.05.

Men's 200m butterfly
American Michael Phelps won his fourth gold medal of the Beijing Olympics in the final of the men's 200m butterfly with a world-record time of 1:52.03. It was Phelps' tenth career gold medal, the most won by any Olympian in any sport. He won despite suffering problems with his swim goggles, which he reported were filling with water during the event, hindering his vision.

Hungarian László Cseh won the silver medal with a time of 1:52.70, an European Record. Japanese swimmer Takeshi Matsuda won the bronze medal with a time of 1:52.97, an Asian Record.

Phelps beat his own world record of 1:52.09, set at the 2007 World Aquatics Championships in Melbourne, Australia. During qualifying, he had set the Olympic record at 1:53.70.

Men's 4x200m freestyle relay
The American team of Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Ricky Berens and Peter Vanderkaay won the gold medal in the final of the men's 4x200m freestyle relay with a time of 6:58.56, the first ever sub-7-minute time in the event. The win gives Phelps his fifth gold medal of the Beijing Olympics, keeping his hopes of passing Mark Spitz's individual gold medal record alive.

They were over 5 seconds faster than second-place Russia, who finished with a time of 7:03.70, still a European record. Australia was third, with a time of 7:04.98.

The previous world record in this event is 7:03.24, set by the American team (which Phelps, Lochte and Vanderkaay were a part of) at the 2007 World Aquatics Championships in Melbourne, Australia.

Phelps' leadoff leg was timed at 1:43.31, which was 0.35 seconds short of his 200m individual world record. Leadoff leg splits in relays can be used for individual records at the same distance.

Women's 69kg weightlifting
China's Liu Chunhong set three new world records in group A of the women's 69kg weightlifting with a total score of 286kg, a snatch score of 128kg, and a clean-and-jerk score of 158kg.

Oxana Slivenko, who was representing Russia, finished in second place, while Natalya Davydova finished in third place with a score of 250kg.

Medal Table
Medal Count update   Other countries 

北京奧運每日簡報 (8月13日)