[Archive 2008-08-13] Olympic highlights: August 13, 2008

Historical archive — originally published 2008-08-13. This report records what was known on that date. It is not current news; subsequent events may have changed the situation. Wikinews closed in May 2026.

August 13, 2008 is the 5th major day of the 2008 Olympic games, the below article lists some of the highlights.

Australian Stephanie Rice set a new world record and won the gold medal in the final of the women's 200m individual medley with a time of 2:08.45, approximately 0.5 seconds quicker than the previous world record, which was also set by Rice.

Kirsty Coventry, who was representing Zimbabwe, won the silver medal and set a new African record, while Natalie Coughlin finished in third place with a time of 2:10.34.

Italian Federica Pellegrini set a new world record and won the gold medal in the final of the women's 200m freestyle with a time of 1:54.82 minutes.

Sara Isakovic, who was representing Slovenia, won the silver medal, while Jiaying Pang finished in third place with a time of 1:55.05.

American Michael Phelps won his fourth gold medal of the Beijing Olympics in the final of the men's 200m butterfly with a world-record time of 1:52.03. It was Phelps' tenth career gold medal, the most won by any Olympian in any sport. He won despite suffering problems with his swim goggles, which he reported were filling with water during the event, hindering his vision.

Hungarian László Cseh won the silver medal with a time of 1:52.70, an European Record. Japanese swimmer Takeshi Matsuda won the bronze medal with a time of 1:52.97, an Asian Record.

Phelps beat his own world record of 1:52.09, set at the 2007 World Aquatics Championships in Melbourne, Australia. During qualifying, he had set the Olympic record at 1:53.70.

The American team of Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Ricky Berens and Peter Vanderkaay won the gold medal in the final of the men's 4x200m freestyle relay with a time of 6:58.56, the first ever sub-7-minute time in the event. The win gives Phelps his fifth gold medal of the Beijing Olympics, keeping his hopes of passing Mark Spitz's individual gold medal record alive.

They were over 5 seconds faster than second-place Russia, who finished with a time of 7:03.70, still a European record. Australia was third, with a time of 7:04.98.

Source and licence

Text adapted from Olympic highlights: August 13, 2008 by Wikinews contributors under CC BY 2.5. Paragraphs have been selected and abridged, and formatting adjusted. Contributor history.