Burgh sets world record in men's 100m breaststroke

 LONDON, July 29 (Xinhua) -- South Africa's Cameron van der Burgh obliterated¹ the world mark and won the men's 100m breaststroke gold medal at the London Olympics on Sunday.

Burgh posted 58.46 seconds to wipe out the previous world record set by Australian swimmer Brenton Rickard at the 2009 Rome World Championships. Christian² Sprenger from Australia took silver at 58.93 and Brendan Hansen from the United States clocked 59.49 to pocket a bronze.

Burgh, bronze medalist at the Shanghai Worlds last year, was the fastest off starting block and led all the way to victory.

"I don't even know what to think. I don't know how to describe my feeling at this moment," said an excited Burgh in tears.

"I have been working towards this goal and it's amazing as I have been doing so much work over the past four years."

Sprenger, 0.47 second slower than Burgh, said: "The first 50 (meters) I set up really well. I put everything together, it was a perfect race."

"Sometimes you just have that swim and everything falls into place. For me that was tonight," added Sprenger, silver medalist in 4x100m medley³ relay⁴ at Beijing Olympics.

Hansen, runner-up of the event at the Beijing Games, was sixth after the first 50m and powered home for the bronze.

It was the second world record set in the pool on Sunday evening, with the other one renewed⁵ by American world champion Dana Vollmer in the women's 100m butterfly final.

Two-time defending Olympic champion Kosuke Kitajima from finished off the podium.

1 obliterated   

v.除去( obliterate的过去式和过去分词 )；涂去；擦掉；彻底破坏或毁灭

参考例句：

• The building was completely obliterated by the bomb. 炸弹把那座建筑物彻底摧毁了。
• He began to drink, drank himself to intoxication, till he slept obliterated. 他一直喝，喝到他快要迷糊地睡着了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

3 medley   

n.混合

参考例句：

• Today's sports meeting doesn't seem to include medley relay swimming.现在的运动会好象还没有混合接力泳这个比赛项目。
• China won the Men's 200 metres Individual Medley.中国赢得了男子200米个人混合泳比赛。

4 relay   

n.接力赛，中继转播（设备）；vt.转述，转播

参考例句：

• They will relay your message.他们会转达你的口信。
• This metal tower is used to relay television signals to distant villages.这个金属塔是用于向遥远的村子转播电视讯号的。

5 renewed   

adj. 更新的，重建的，复兴的，重申的 动词renew的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• They regrouped their forces and renewed the attack. 他们重新聚集兵力，再次发动进攻。
• The army renewed its assault on the capital. 军队重新发动对首都的攻击。