De Bruijn wins
women's 50-meter gold

Metella of France wins silver,
Lenton from Australia takes bronze

Mark Baker / AP

Inge de Bruijn reacts after winning gold in the 50-meter freestyle on Saturday.

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	G	S	B	TOT
USA	35	39	29	103
RUS	27	27	38	92
CHN	32	17	14	63
AUS	17	16	16	49
GER	14	16	18	48

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MEDAL WINNERS

updated 8:13 a.m. ET Aug. 22, 2004

ATHENS, Greece - Inge de Bruijn of the Netherlands won the 50-meter freestyle for the second consecutive Olympics on Saturday night.

De Bruijn’s time of 24.58 seconds was 26-hundredths of a second slower than her winning time at the Sydney Games. Malia Metella of France earned silver in 24.89 and Lisbeth Lenton of Australia took bronze in 24.91.

De Bruijn, who turns 31 on Tuesday, became the first woman to win consecutive sprint titles since the event was added to the Olympic program in 1988.

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“This is just the best birthday present I could hope for. A gold in the last day of the program — what a climax,” the Dutchwoman said. “It’s an amazing feeling.”

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De Bruijn also won silver in the 100 freestyle, and bronzes in the 100 butterfly and 400 freestyle relay.

Therese Alshammar of Sweden, the silver medalist in Sydney, was fourth.

Kara Lynn Joyce of Ann Arbor, Mich., was fifth in 25 seconds.

American Jenny Thompson’s bid to win the first individual gold medal of her career ended in a seventh-place finish. Her time of 25.11 was more than half a second slower than de Bruijn.

Thompson has 11 career medals, nine of them on relays.

Swimming - Women's 50-meter Freestyle (medals: Aug. 21st)
Medal Athlete Country Result
Gold Inge de Bruijn Netherlands 24.58
Silver Malia Metella France 24.89
Bronze Libby Lenton Australia 24.91
NBCO: Schedules, preliminary result and complete final results