Phelps wins sixth gold; China continue gold rush (1st Lead)

By Peter Auf der Heyde Aug 15, 2008, 12:59 GMT

Beijing - American swimmers scored a hat-trick of victories and set three world records at the Beijing Olympics on Friday as superstar Michael Phelps took his tally of gold medals to six.

Host China meanwhile took its gold medal haul to 25 after 100 events with two golds in men's and women's weightlifting and one in women's judo.

Slovakia bagged three golds in canoeing, Britain's men's sprint team won gold in cycling, the US clinched victory in women's gymnastics and there were golds for Ukraine in shooting and archery.

Athletics got underway with Jamaica's Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell and the American Tyson Gay moving comfortably through the first two rounds of the heats in the 100 metres.

World record holder Bolt clocked 9.92 seconds as he effortlessy won his second heat, while Powell looked equally impressive winning his second-round heat in 10.02 seconds, and Gay went through untroubled in 10.09.

In the pool, Germany's Britta Steffen broke the US domination with a remarkable comeback in the women's 100 metres freestyle to give her country its first Olympic swimming gold in 16 years.

Phelps took the men's 200-metre individual medley in a world record time of 1 minute 54.23 seconds, while his friend and compatriot Ryan Lochte set a new best mark in the 200m backstroke.

Rebecca Soni, who finished second to Leisel Jones in the women's 200m breaststroke, turned the tables on the Australian this time around as she took gold in a world record time of 2:20.22.

Phelps, who earlier in the week, broke the all-time record of nine Olympic gold medals overall, now holds 12 golds, as well as two bronze medals.

In the men's medley, the medals went to the same swimmers who also stood on the podium in the 400m medley, with Phelps being followed by Hungarian Laszlo Cseh and Lochte.

Twenty minutes earlier, Lochte won his first individual Olympic gold when he beat compatriot Aaron Peirsol in the 200m backstroke in a new world record time of 1:53.94.

Steffen gave a disappointing Germany its first swimming medal of the Games with a 53.12 performance in the women's 100 metres freestyle to prevent a US whitewash at the Beijing Water Cube.

Lying just eighth at the turn, the German managed to overtake the leading Australian Lisbeth Trickett with the last touch, beating the world record holder by just 0.04 seconds.

It was Germany's first Olympic swimming gold since Barcelona 1992 when Dagmar Hase won the women's 400m freestyle.

In the women's 200m breaststroke, Soni proved too strong for Jones and went on to win in a time of two minutes 20.22 seconds, beating the Australian by 1.83 seconds.

Track cycling's first final saw Britain's men's sprint trio defeat France to win the nation's third gold of the Games.

Jamie Staff, Jason Kenny and Chris Hoy clocked a time of 43.128 seconds in the final to win by 0.523 seconds. Germany defeated Australia by 0.008 seconds to take the bronze medal.

Nastia Liukin helped the United States women's gymnastics team make up for the disappointment of finishing second to China in the team competition by winning gold in the all-around event at the National Indoor Stadium.

Ukraine's Artur Ayvazian took gold in the men's 50-metre prone rifle to deny defending Olympic champion Matthew Emmons of the United States a second successive winner's medal in the event.

Viktor Ruban secured a second gold of the day for Ukraine by winning a first archery gold for the nation by beating South Korea's Park Kyung-Mo in the final of the men's individual event.

Twin brothers Pavol and Peter Hochschorner of Slovakia claimed their third successive Olympic gold medal in the men's canoe C2 doubles event while compatriot Elena successfully defended her women's K1 kayak title.

China gained golds in women's judo when Tong Wen won the 78kg category, and followed up with golds in women's weightlifting, where the 75kg title went to Cao Lei, and the men's 85kg wieght won by Lu Yong.

Elsewhere, Satoshi Ishii won a judo gold for Japan in the men's +100-kilogram division, and France clinched a fencing gold by beating Poland for the men's team epee title.

North Korea's Kim Jong Su became the first athlete to lose an Olympic medal for doping when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) disqualified him for failing a drugs test.

Kim won bronze in the men's 10-metre air pistol last Saturday and followed that up with a silver in the 50m pistol on Tuesday but loses both after testing positive for the beta-blocker propranolol.