Zimbabwe's "national treasure" Kirsty Coventry also had her country's anthem played at the Olympic arena. Coventry, by herself, pocketed one gold and three silvers in Beijing, placing her country among the swimming powers.
The Chinese also joined the gold jubilation last Thursday when 19-year-old swimmer Liu Zige smashed Australian Jessicah Schipper's world record in the women's 200-meter butterfly Thursday, snatching host China's first swimming gold at the Beijing Olympic Games.
Liu, who seemed to have come out of nowhere, took the gold in a stunning two minutes and 04.18 seconds, chopping off Schipper's previous record by more than one second. Her teammate Jiao Liuyang, aged 18, also beat Schipper in the last lap, finishing second in 2:04.72. Schipper was third in 2:06.26, well off her personal best.
Along with China, France, Italy, South Korea, Brazil, the Netherlands and Tunisia all had their golden moment at the Water Cube.
As the pool at the Water Cube quieted down, a total of 25 world records have been bettered at the venue, exceeding the total marks set in both Athens and Sydney.
Swimmers were seen smashing world records in heats and more than 70 percent of the gold medals were won by swimmers swimming under the world record pace. Michael Phelps alone grabbed contributed four individual world records.
The record-breaking spree has stirred up massive speculations, ranging from pool, water and swimsuits. People tried to find out what made swimmers go faster in Beijing.
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Michael Phelps of the United States smiles during the awarding ceremony of the Men's 4X100M Medlay Relay final at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in the National Aquatics Center, also known as the Water Cube in Beijing, China, Aug. 17, 2008. Phelps won his eighth gold medal at the Beijing Olympics swimming events on Sunday, breaking Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals won at a single Games in 1972. [Chen Kai/Xinhua]
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"We are calling it the 'swimming temple" of the world," said Cornel Marculescu, executive director of aquatic sport governing body FINA. "The venue is without any doubt one of the best in the world. But the pool (designed according to FINA rules) has no difference from others."
The FINA official accredited the increase of speed to the advances in training methods and perfection of swimming techniques. "Michael Phelps's win in men's 100m butterfly race is a perfect example."
The official also said that the roles of the new swim gears like the much hyped Speedo LZR Racer suits can't be overstated. "Athletes wearing different brands of suits can get up and win medals. Phelps, breaststroker Kitajima and Park Tae-hwan (South Kora's 400m freestyle winner) all wore trousers, instead of the much hyped full-body suits," Marculescu said.
Although Beijing sees a bigger wave of broken records than the past Olympics, it has become a rule for swimming records to be regularly broken when athletes gear themselves up for the major meets. Fourteen records were shattered in the 2000 Sydney Games alone, while the swimming records were downed 33 times in the whole year.
"People have been looking for reasons why performances have been so good. The real reason is that swimmers are swimming really well and the coaches are coaching really well," said Australian head coach Alain Thompson, on Thursday.
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US swimmers Michael Phelps (R) and Aaron Peirsol celebrate after their team winning the men's 4x100m medley relay final at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in the National Aquatics Center, also known as the Water Cube in Beijing, China, Aug. 17, 2008. US swimmers set a new world record of the event in a time of 3 minutes 29.34 seconds and won the gold medal. [Fan Jun/Xinhua]
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(Xinhua News Agency August 17, 2008)