The silver medalist Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe, the gold medalist Natalie Coughlin of the United States and the bronze medalist Margaret Hoelzer.
The silver medalist Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe, the gold medalist Natalie Coughlin of the United States and the bronze medalist Margaret Hoelzer.
The silver medalist Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe, the gold medalist Natalie Coughlin of the United States and the bronze medalist Margaret Hoelzer.
The silver medalist Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe, the gold medalist Natalie Coughlin of the United States and the bronze medalist Margaret Hoelzer.

Sport

Coughlin wins 100m women's backstroke

The American Natalie Coughlin turned the tables on Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe to win the 100m backstroke gold medal.

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BEIJING // The American Natalie Coughlin turned the tables on Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe to win the 100m backstroke gold medal. Coughlin held off the fast-finishing Coventry to touch the wall first in 58.96 seconds, just 0.19 outside the world record of 58.77 the Zimbabwean set during Monday's semi-finals. Coventry finished second in 59.19 to claim her second silver medal in Beijing after being runner-up in the 400m individual medley while the American Margaret Hoelzer won bronze in 59.34.

Coughlin, who won a relay silver on the first day of finals in Beijing, also won the 100m backstroke title at Athens and becomes the first woman to defend the title since the event was first introduced to the Olympics in 1924. In the Olympic women's 100m breaststroke final the Australian Leisel Jones set an Olympic record of 1 minute 5.17 seconds to finish ahead of Rebecca Soni of the United States who took the silver medal. Mirna Jukic of Austria came home third to take bronze.

*Reuters

China