Rice rises to the top, as other Australians fall

 

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By Mohammed Patel, 14 Aug 2008 Mohammed Patel is a Roar Rookie

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 Australia, Basketball, Beijing, Beijing 2008, beijing oympics, Boomers, Federer, Glamour Girl, gold, hewitt, individual medley, Lleyton Hewitt, medley, Michael Phelps, Nadal, Olympics, Phelps, Rafael Nadal, Rice, Roger Federer, Staphanie Rice

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Olympic debutant Stephanie Rice is rapidly rising to the top of women’s swimming, after winning her second gold medal, while American Michael Phelps rises to a level of his own.

Rice, 20, claimed her second gold medal on Wednesday as Phelps won his tenth and eleventh gold medals to stake a claim as the greatest ever Olympian ever.

In an exciting come-from-behind win, Rice set a new 200m IM world record, becoming the first Australian to win the double medley (200m-400m) at the Olympics.

Rice finished the race in 2min8.45sec, narrowly edging out Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry (2:08.59) and America’s Natalie Coughlin.

Dubbed ‘Glamour Girl’ by the media, Rice said achieving double-gold was her “ultimate goal.”

“It was extremely close and I didn’t realise how close it was until I saw the scoreboard. It was a phenomenal race.”

Meanwhile, the Australian Kookaburra’s have stamped their dominance in men’s hockey after a commanding 10-0 win against South Africa.

The Kookaburra’s are certainties to advance into the next round of competition, but the win will boost their confidence heading into the finals.

Lleyton Hewitt, however, has been knocked out of the singles tennis event following his defeat to Rafael Nadal.

The current Wimbledon champion downed Hewitt 6-1 6-2 to advance into the third round of the competition.

Roger Federer also moved forward to the next round, defeating Salvadoran Rafael Arevalo.

The Australian Boomers suffered another loss, going down to former Olympic champions Argentina.

To advance into the finals now, the Boomers will require a minimum two wins in their next three games against Iran, Lithuania and Russia.

Australia currently sits fifth on the overall medal tally, behind China, USA, Korea and Italy.

See full table.