August 17, 2008	Sunday	Sha'aban 14, 1429

BEIJING, Aug 16: Great Britain’s Rebecca Adlington shattered the longest-standing swimming world record with a sensational all-the-way victory in the women’s 800 metres freestyle for her second gold medal at the Beijing Olympics on Saturday.

The 19-year-old freestyler from Mansfield in England lopped 2.12secs off American Janet Evans’s 19-year world mark in a time of eight minutes 14.10 seconds.

Evans had held the record at 8:16.22 since August 20, 1989 and was the only world record in the sport to have survived from the 1980s.

Adlington’s spectacular success followed her victory in the 400m freestyle final last Monday for the first swimming gold by a British woman in 48 years at the Olympics.

“If anyone 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,” Adlington laughed.

“It’s [record] always been a goal of mine. It’s always been in the back of my mind.

“I dropped three seconds from the British trials and it was a lot to ask, but I didn’t expect it at all. It’s just amazing. I heard she [Evans] is here and it would be really nice to meet her.”

The second gold medal has made Adlington the most successful British swimmer of the modern era.

“It means absolutely everything to me, it just shows that all my hard work has paid off and now it just means I am going to get back into the pool and put in more hard work,” she said.

“I knew when I touched the wall I was going to win the gold, but I didn’t expect to get the record and by that much, it’s unbelievable.”

Adlington swam the final out on her own and had a massive 6.13sec to spare at the finish over Italian Alessia Filippi, who claimed the silver medal in 8:20.23.

The British distance swimmer was 0.83sec under world record pace at the 100m and had built it up to 2.2secs by halfway and was even 2.65secs ahead of the 500m split.

FINA, the sport’s world governing body, arranged front-row tickets for Adlington’s parents to be in the Water Cube after they had been duped into buying fake tickets off a website and had looked likely to miss their daughter’s big moment.

Denmark’s Lotte Friis finished with the bronze medal in 8:23.03.—AFP