Adlington golden double

Great Britain's Rebecca Adlington destroyed the rest of the field in the 800m freestyle to claim her second gold of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

Adlington broke one of swimming's most illustrious world records in the process - minutes after American star Michael Phelps had claimed his seventh gold of the Games to equal Mark Spitz's record.

Adlington's time of eight minutes, 14.10 seconds was 2.12secs under Janet Evans' 19-year-old world record as she added gold in the 800m to the one she won in the 400m freestyle earlier in the week.

The 19-year-old was six seconds clear of the rest of the field as Italy's Alessia Filippi took silver and Lotte Friis of Denmark the bronze.

Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry finally claimed gold at the Games, winning the 200m backstroke in a world record time of 2:05.24.

Coventry's win was her first gold of the games after three second-placed finishes earlier in the swimming programme.