Australia's Leisel Jones ended eight years of gut-wrenching defeats by winning her first individual Olympic title at the Water Cube Tuesday.
The glum expression and temper tantrums that characterized her misses in Sydney 2000 (silver) and Athens (bronze) disappeared as she climbed the podium with a cheesy grin after her emphatic victory in the 100m breaststroke final.
An underwater scene of the women's 100m breststroke final Tuesday August 12 2008. [David BURNETT/CONTACT PRESS IMAGEs] |
It was only when she embraced her mother and her fiancee in the stands that she succumbed to her emotions and burst into tears.
"It's been a whirlwind experience and the past eight years I've learned a lot about this and I guess the gold medal is the reason I did a lot of this," she said.
"I've gone from a naive 14-year-old to an under-pressure 18-year-old in Athens and now, a relieved 22-year-old."
Jones won the race ahead of American Rebecca Soni in an Olympic record time of 1 min 05.17 sec. She holds the world record (1:05.09) in the event also.
Jones was labeled a bad loser for the look of despair on her face after she was beaten in Athens by China's Luo Xuejuan and teammate Brooke Hansen but the criticism she endured ultimately made her a better swimmer and a person.
"This gold medal was for the believers, those who stuck by me," she said.
After Athens, Jones split with her longtime coach Ken Wood, who had discovered her as a child while her mother was working as a cleaner at a Brisbane pool and taught her to swim fast by telling her to imagine she was being chased by a giant crab.
Jones joined up with Swiss-born coach Stefan Widmer, chopped off her long hair and adopted a more relaxed approach to her sport.
It was a move that provided instant success and she has not looked back, demolishing world records and winning the breaststroke double at the past two World Championships.
"To come out as an Olympic gold medalist is way more important than winning at my first Olympics ... it's been a good story."
Coughlin repeats Athens glory
American Natalie Coughlin beat hot favorite Zibabwean veteran Kirsty Coventry to retain her 100m backstroke gold.
Coughlin led the race from the start and was the first to reach the 50-meter turn. Coventry, who broke Coughlin's world record in Monday's semifinals, tried to catch up in the final 50 meters, but Coughlin held on.
This was the first gold medal for the US women in what has been a disappointing Games so far. Coughlin clocked in 58.96 seconds, Coventry, also silver medalist in Athens, was 0.23 seconds behind.
Another American Margaret Hoelzer won bronze in 59.34.
Peirsol stays backstroke king
Aaron Peirsol won the 100m backstroke gold in a world record time of 52.54, 0.35 seconds faster than his own record set one month ago at the US Olympic trials.
"I'm a little bit excited, a little bit relieved, absolutely elated," said the 25-year-old backstroke specialist.
Liam Tancock from Britain held his fame as the 50m backstroke world record holder by leading the first lap in 25.11 seconds, but Peirsol surged after the turn and touched the wall first.
Peirsol's teammate Matt Grevers, 23, grabbed the silver in 53.11 seconds.