The Australian women's 4x200m freestyle relay team on Thursday smashed the world record to get gold at at the Beijing Olympics. ( dpa )
Stephanie Rice, Bronte Barratt, Kylie Palmer and Linda Mackenzie's won in 7 minutes 44.31 seconds, slashing 5.78 seconds off the old record of 7:50.09 the US had set at the world championships in Australia last year.
China was a popular silver medal winner in 7:45.93, while even the third-placed US team was under the old record time as they won bronze in 7:46.33.
It was the 18th world record set in the Beijing Water Cube at this meet.