LIBBYS GOLDEN SMILE
BEIJING, CHINA, August 11: Libby Trickett felt like vomiting before her breakthrough Olympic performance but now it is her rivals that should feel crook in the guts.
The sprint queen is poised to clean up at the Water Cube this week after collecting her first individual Olympic gold medal in the 100m butterfly in Beijing.
She channelled her nerves into her swim today, leading from start to finish to hand Australia its second gold medal at the pool. TOM WALD AAP REPORTS...
Trickett then declared herself "in career best" form.
That should be enough for her to add the 50m and 100m freestyle gold medals later on in the week.
Then there is the 4x100m medley relay as well.
"I have achieved my goal, my ultimate dream was to achieve an individual gold medal at an Olympics," she said.
"To have done that is just icing on the cake, I feel like there is almost a weight off me know."
The pressure coming off Trickett's powerful shoulders should sound alarm bells for her opponents.
This is a far more complete swimmer than the teenager that floundered under the weight of expectation in Athens four years ago. 
She even had enough composure to help compatriot and former world champion Jess Schipper make a late swim suit change before the race.
The prospect of the emotionally-charged Trickett holding it together and the laidback Schipper being rattled would have seemed unthinkable a couple of years ago.
She had the grace to thank the bronze-medal winning Schipper as the Brisbane swimmers have pushed each other to the very top of their sport.
"Without her, I would not be here," said Trickett after matching her tally of one relay gold and a bronze from 2004.
"I have equalled what I did in Athens, so anything from now on is a bonus," she said.
Her performance was just one of many exhilarating efforts in the pool with four world records falling on the second morning of finals.
Eamon Sullivan reinforced Australia's position as the dominant force in world sprinting by claiming the 100m freestyle mark with his stunning lead-off leg in the 4x100m relay.
He touched the wall in 47.24 seconds to butcher Frenchman Alain Bernard's old mark by more than a quarter of a second as Australia collected bronze behind the USA and France.
Australia now holds the world records in the 50m and 100m freestyle in both men's and women's events for the first time.
The male quartet of Sullivan, Andrew Lauterstein, Ashley Callus and Matt Targett produced a mind blowing time of 3 minutes 9.91 seconds.
Problem was that every other relay was in the mood to push boundaries.
The USA (3:08.24) hacked almost four seconds off their world mark set last night to edge out the flying French foursome (3:08.32).
It kept Michael Phelps' quest for eight gold medals on track.
But there were plenty more surprises.
Unheralded Australian backstroker Hayden Stoeckel (52.97) announced his arrival on the world stage by being fastest qualifier for tomorrow's 100m final. 
This came after Brisbane schoolgirl Emily Seebohm bombed out in the semi-finals of the women's event.
The performance was a worrying sign for Australia's normally unstoppable women's medley relay.
American Christine Magnuson, the silver medallist in the 100m butterfly, said the USA should not be ruled out.
"We will keep it interesting for everyone," she said.
Australia's Brenton Rickard (59.74s) finished fifth in the 100m breaststroke with Kosuke Kitajima (58.91s) blowing away the field.
The Japanese swimmer sliced 0.22s off Brendan Hansen's world mark with the American finishing fourth.
Bronte Barratt came seventh in the 400m freestyle with Britain's Rebecca Adlington (4:03.22) touching out the unfortunate Katie Hoff (4:03.29) at the death.
Day three finals results
Men
400m individual medley
1 Michael Phelps USA 4:03.84WR
2 Laszlo Cseh HUN 4:06.16
3 Ryan lochte USA 4:08.09
4 Alessio Boggiatto ITA 4:12.16
5 Luca Marin ITA 4:12.47
6 Gergo Kis HUN 4:12.84
7 Brian Johns CAN 4:13.38
8 Thiago Pereira BRA 4:15.40
400m freestyle
1. Taehwan Park KOR 3:41.86
2. Lin Zhang CHN 3:42.44
3. Larsen Jensen USA 3:42.78
4. Peter Vanderkaay USA 3:43.11
5. Oussama Mellouli TUN 3:43.45
6. Grant Hackett AUS 3:43.84
7. Yuriy Prilukov RUS 3:43.97
8. Nikita Lobintsev RUS 3:48.29
100m breaststsroke
1 Kosuke Kitajima JPN 58.91
2 Dale Oen Alexander NOR 59.20
3 Hugues Duboscq FRA 59.37
4 Brendan Hansen USA 59.57
5 Brenton Rickard AUS 59.74
6 Roman Sludnov RUS 59.87
7I gor Borysik UKR 1:00.20
8 Mark Gangloff USA 1:00.24
4x100m freestyle relay
1 USA 3:08.24
2 FRA 3:08.32
3 AUS 3:09.91
4 ITA 3:11.48
5 SWE 3:11.92
6 CAN 3:12.26
7 RSA 3:12.66
8 GBR 3:12.87
Women
4x100m freestyle relay
1 NED 3:33.76
2 USA 3:34.33
3 AUS 3:35.05
4 CHN 3:35.64
5 GER 3:36.85
6 FRA 3:37.68
7 GBR 3:38.18
8 CAN 3:38.32
400m individual medley
1 Stephanie Rice AUS 4:29.45 WR
2 Kirsty Coventry ZIM 4:29.89
3 Katie Hoff USA 4:31.71
4 Elizabeth Beisel USA 4:34.24
5 Alessia Filippi ITA 4:34.34
6 Hannah Miley GBR 4:39.44
7 Yana Martynova RUS 4:40.04
8 Xuanxu Li CHN 4:42.13
100m butterfly
1 Lisbeth Trickett AUS 56.73
2 Christine Magnuson USA 57.10
3 Jessicah Schipper AUS 57.25
4 Yafei Zhou CHN 57.84
5 Li TAO SIN 57.99
6 Jemma LOWE GBR 58.06
7Gabriella SILVA BRA 58.10
8 Inge DEKKER NED 58.54
400m freestyle
1 Rebecca Adlington GBR 4:03.22
2 Katie Hoff USA 4:03.29
3 Joanne Jackson GBR 4:03.52
4 Coralie Balmy FRA 4:03.60
5 Federica Pellegrini ITA 4:04.56
6 Camelia Alina Potec ROU 4:04.66
7 Bronte Barratt AUS 4:05.05
8 Laure Manaudou FRA 4:11.26
MEDAL COUNT - AUSTRALIA
Gold (2)
Stephanie Rice 400m individual medley 4:29.45 WR
Lisbeth Trickett 100m butterfly 56.73
Silver -
Bronze (3)
Jessicah Schipper 100m butterfly 57.25
4x100m women freestyle relay
Final Cate Campbell 54.43, Alice Mills 54.43, Melanie Schlanger 53.85, Lisbeth Trickett 52.34, 3:35.05
(Heat: Cate Campbell 54.65 Alice Mills 54.55 Melanie Schlanger 54.69 Shayne Reese 53.92 3:37.81)
4x100m men freestyle relay
H Andrew Lauterstein 48.68 Leith Brodie 48.42 Patrick Murphy 48.09 Matt Targett 47.22 3:12.41
F Eamon Sullivan 47.24 WR Andrew Lauterstein 47.87 Ashley Callus 47.55 Matt Targett 47.25 3:09.91