The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic GamesAugust 8-24 2008
(BEIJING, August 16) -- Rebecca Adlington of Great Britain broke the oldest world record left in the swimming pool on Saturday at the National Aquatics Center in the final of the Women's 800m Freestyle.
American Janet Evans' world record of 8:16.22 was set in 1989 - the year Adlington was born. After the heats the writing was on the wall that it was there to be broken.
Adlington qualified fastest for the final and took the race out hard from the start. She was consistently under world record pace by around two seconds throughout her swim, including by 2.22 seconds at the 400m. By the 600m mark she had stretched her lead on the world record by 2.52 seconds.
Adlington kept up the pace in the final 200m, finally touching in 8:14.10 to knock an incredible 2.12 seconds off Evans' 19-year-old old world mark. Underlining her form and confidence at these Games, Adlington finished an impressive 6.13 seconds ahead of the second finisher and 8.93 seconds ahead of the bronze winner.
Adlington has enjoyed an incredible Games after also winning in a surprise on Monday in the Women's 400m Freestyle.
Alessia Filippi of Italy, third fastest into the final, won the silver medal in a time of 8:20.23.
Lotte Friis of Denmark won the bronze medal in a time of 8:23.03.
Defending Olympic champion Shibata Ai of Japan failed to qualify. World champion Kate Ziegler (USA) also failed to qualify for the final.
