Lee does light work before Thursday' entry in to the pool

Dinesh Weerawansa reporting from china

Sri Lanka swimmer Daniel Lee had a light work out for his upcoming men's 50m freestyle event as USA established as American Michael Phelps gave the world yet another surprise by winning the gold medal in the Men's 400m Individual Medley on day four of the XXIX Olympic Games swimming competition at the Water Cube - the National Aquatic Centre here on Monday.

Following the unfortunate first round exit of Mayumi Raheem in women's 100m breast stroke event, the only hope for Sri Lanka at the Water Cube is young Lee, who edged out compatriot Heshan Unamboowe to take the wildcard entry for Sri Lanka.

Despite making his way the BUAA Gymnasium to cheer his team mate Chinthana Vidanage, Australia-based Lee has been working hard for his decisive meet. Lee had a light work out last evening as he is making preparations for his 'Olympic swim' on Thursday.

The American dominance continued in the Olympic swim competition. Phelps took 1.41 second off his own world record to take the men's 400m individual medley gold medal with a time of 4:03.84.

When questioned about his thoughts on winning Olympic gold and breaking yet another world record, Phelps said he was emotional and excited. "It's a really a good way to start," he said.

As the world watched, the swimming talent stood on top the podium, tears welling up in his eyes. Silver went to Athens bronze medal winner Laszlo Cseh of Hungary.

American Ryan Lochte took the bronze medal this time around. But it was South Korean Tae-hwan Park who won the gold medal of men's 400m free style with a timing of three minutes and 41.86 seconds.

He pushed Chinese Zhang Lin (3:42.44) and American Larsen Jensen (3:42.78) to second and third places respectively. Incidentally, Park's idol, the favored Grant Hackett of Australia, faded to sixth with a time of 3:43.84.

Park's gold medal is the first Olympic medal for Korea and the fact that two Asian male swimmers stood atop the podium in a swimming event today was also a first in Olympic swimming history.

In the Women's 400m Individual Medley final, Australian Stephanie Rice bagged the gold in convincing fashion.

She clocked four minutes 29.45 seconds to regain the world record from American Katie Hoff, who came in third with a time of 4:31.71. Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe tried to out swim Rice in the last 50 meter lap, but failed. Coventry won the silver medal in 4:29.89.

The Netherlands sent the same team that broke the world record for the event in March this year: Inge Dekker, Ranomi Kromowidjojo, Femke Heemskerk and Marleen Veldhuis to compete in the Women's 4x100m Freestyle Relay final and easily took the gold medal from the United States with more than half a second lead.

Defending world and Olympic champions Australia touched third with a new Australian record time.

Two Olympic records were broken in the Women's 100m Backstroke and 100m Breaststroke preliminary round by Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe and Leisel Jones of Australia within the hour. Coventry had just won a silver medal in the Women's 400m Individual Medley in the morning.

Shortly afterwards, another Olympic record was smashed by an American in the Men's 100m backstroke round one - Matt Grevers with a time of 53.41, 0.04 of a second off the previous record set by his compatriot Aaron Peirsol four years ago in Athens.

In Women's 400m Freestyle, the 20-year-old Olympic record held by American Janet Evans since Seoul Games was updated twice, first by Katie Hoff in heat five and then by the world-record holder Federica Pellegrini of Italy with a time of 4:02.19 in heat seven.

The Women's 400m Freestyle was one of the most intense events that spectators at the Water Cube witnessed this morning.

Rebecca Adlington of Great Britain took gold in the Women's 400m Freestyle with a time of 4:03.22, beating the "Female Phelps," Katie Hoff (4:03.29) of the USA, who came in second. Joanne Jackson, also from Great Britain, won bronze with a time of 4:03.52.

Laure Manaudou of France took a clear lead in the first 100 meters, but was caught and outswum by Hoff, who remained in the top position until right before the end, when Adlington suddenly overtook her in the last meter to touch the wall first.

"I gave it everything I had possibly, but they got me in the end," said 19-year-old Hoff. Reigning world and Olympic champion Federica Pellegrini painted a poor picture in finishing fifth with a time of 4:04.56.

"I just couldn't get myself into shape. We Italians haven't got used to competition in the morning," the world record holder said after her Olympic debacle.

In one of the all-time great relay swims, the United States overhauled the French team in the shadows of the finish line to complete a stunning Men's 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay win, smashing the world record by nearly four seconds in the process.

The US team of Michael Phelps, Garret Weber-Gale, Cullen Jones and Jason Lezak proved unstoppable, with Lezak producing a superb anchor leg to reel in Alain Bernard of France and give the US a victory by 0.08 seconds in 3min 08.24sec. Australia took Bronze in 3:09.91.

The world record set by the US on Saturday was smashed by the Americans again - by a stunning 3.99 seconds - and the first five finishers in the final (United States, France, Australia, Italy and Sweden) all went under the old world record.

"It was unbelievable! Jason Lezak finished the race better than we could have asked for. In the last 50m, I was knew this is going to be a really close race. At the end, I was pretty excited and emotional," Phelps said after the dream race.

Australia's Eamon Sullivan set a world record for the Men's 100m with a stunning lead-off leg of 47.24 to shave more than two-tenths of a second off Bernard's old mark. Sullivan's superb swim means the 22-year-old will start as favorite in front of Bernard for the Men's 100m Freestyle of which the heats would commence on Tuesday.

Spectators might have thought they were experiencing D,j... vu when they witnessed another Chinese lifter surnamed Chen dominate the weightlifting final today. But it was the defending Olympic champion Chen Yanqing, who retained her title in Women's 58kg with a total lift of 244kg.

Chen's confident and steady performance throughout the final was as remarkable as the amount she lifted. Before Chen stepped onto the floor, the best result for the Snatch was 99kg from Ecuador's Alexandra Escobar, followed by three lifters tied at 98kg.

However, their efforts were dwarfed by Chen's first attempt of 100kg. Chen succeeded without any trouble and continued to lift 106kg after three attempts, establishing an early lead of seven kilograms.

BEIJING, Monday