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De Bruijn defends 50 freestyle title
Inge de Bruijn of the Netherlands became the first woman to win consecutive sprint titles since the event was added to the Games in 1988.
Inge de Bruijn of the Netherlands won the 50-meter freestyle for the second consecutive Olympics on Saturday night.
Her 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 became the first woman to win consecutive sprint titles since the event was added to the Olympic program in 1988. Therese Alshammar of Sweden, the silver medallist in Sydney, was fourth.
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.
