GOLD RUSH FOR RICE

BEIJING, CHINA, August  13: Stephanie Rice claimed her second Olympic gold medal today in the 200m medley while former boyfriend Eamon Sullivan broke his second world record of the Games in the 100m freestyle semi-finals.

Rice stormed home to add the 200m medley to the 400m crown she won last Sunday and also collected her second world record in the process. TODD BALYM AAP REPORTS...

The Australian men's 4x200m freestyle relay team then added a fifth bronze medal from the pool when placing third behind the USA team whose superstar Michael Phelps collected his fifth gold of the Games and this morning became the greatest Olympian ever.

Queensland starlet Rice continued to lead the Australian team with a time of two minutes 08.45 seconds to slash almost half a second off her own world record.

It is the first time an Australian has completed the 200m-400m medley double at an Olympics.

Rice trailed Kirsty Coventry by over half a second at the turn but overhauled the unlucky Zimbabwean (2:08.59) who collected her third silver of the Games.

"It is something I have dreamt about for a long time and was obviously the ultimate goal," said Rice of her double gold.
"I put a lot of effort into this preparation so I'm really excited to see the results.  

I tried not to look over too much in that last lap, I just closed my eyes and focused on all the hard sets I have done.

"It was extremely close and I didn't realise how close it was until I saw the scoreboard.
It was a phenomenal race."

Australian teammate Alicia Coutts placed fifth in 2:11.43.

Ex-boyfriend Sullivan also joined in the record spree by reclaiming his 100m title with 47.05 after Frenchman Alain Bernard took it off him in the first semi-final with a 47.20 swim.

"I was trying not to watch the (race) before, I didn't really want to see what time they went but you can't help but hearing obviously with the loud speaker," Sullivan said.

"It was only just by a little bit (and) I was feeling pretty good in the warm up too so I thought I'd have a go and try and go a little bit faster and I'm really glad I did."

Sullivan's record ensures he will start favourite for tomorrow's red hot final where Dutchman Pieter van den Hoogenband is chasing a history making third consecutive Olympic title.

Incredibly van den Hoogenband's winning time at Athens four years ago, 48.17, would not have qualified for the Beijing final.

And 2007 world champion Filippo Magnini of Italy was the biggest casualty failing to qualify after placing ninth with a time of 48.11.

The men's relay quartet - Patrick Murphy, Grant Hackett, Grant Brits and Nick Ffrost - held on for a courageous bronze with a time of 7:04.98 to finish behind USA (6:58.56) and Russia (7:03.70).

In today's other final featuring an Australian Bronte Barratt placed seventh in the 200m freestyle in 1:57.83, behind Italian world record breaker Federica Pellegrini (1:54.82).

In semi-final action Jess Schipper qualified second fastest for the 200m butterfly final in a time of 2:06.34, less than a tenth of a second behind China's Liu Zige.

Olympic rookie Samantha Hamill (2:09.58) was 12th.

Breaststroker Brenton Rickard (2:09.72) reached the 200m final in fourth place behind 100m Olympic champion Kosuke Kitajima (2:08.61).