Golden double for Adlington

16/08/2008 06:07

By Derek Parr

BEIJING (Reuters) - Britain’s Rebecca Adlington broke swimming’s oldest world record to win the women’s 800 metres freestyle and achieve a golden Olympic double on Saturday.

Adlington, 19, who won Britain’s first Olympic women’s swimming title in nearly half a century in the 400 freestyle on Monday, made it two golds in six days with a comprehensive triumph, scattering her rivals in the 16-length race.

She hit the wall in eight minutes 14.10 seconds, slicing more than two seconds from the 8:16.22 world mark set by American Janet Evans in Tokyo on August 20, 1989 -- six months after Adlington was born.

Alessia Filippi of Italy came through in the second half of the race but had no hope of catching the Briton, finishing a distant second in 8:20.23 to collect the silver.

Denmark’s Lotte Friis overhauled a tiring Camelia Potec on the last length to snatch the bronze in 8:23.03, 0.08 seconds ahead of the Romanian 2004 Olympic 200 freestyle champion.

But Adlington, inside world record pace all the way, utterly dominated the race, leaving the rest to joust for silver and bronze.

"I can’t believe what happened, I’m so happy. It wasn’t like the 400, I knew I’d won. It’s absolutely unbelievable," Adlington said.

"If anyone .....continued below

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would have said before the Games that I’d win two golds and break the world record, I’d have laughed in their face. I never thought it. It’s the Olympic Games, everyone raises the bar. I was expecting such a fight.

She duelled with Potec for the first 200 metres but was half a body length clear at 300 and steadily opened up a yawning gap. Filippi had passed Potec by the 700-metre mark but Adlington was long gone.

Adlington, who was the top-ranked 800 freestyle swimmer in the world this year, is Britain’s first Olympic swimming champion since Adrian Moorhouse won the 100 breaststroke in 1988 and the first British women’s champion since Anita Lonsbrough won the 200 breaststroke in 1960.

(Additional reporting by Martin Petty)

(Editing by Greg Stutchbury)

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