Australia's Petria Thomas became the first two-gold winner in the Athens Olympic Games after taking the women's 100 meters butterfly Sunday in Athens.

Thomas, who won her first title in the women's 4X100m freestyle relay on Saturday, clocked 57.72 seconds to complete her golden double.

"It's unbelievable, I never thought it would happen," said the 29-year-old, who finished 4th in the Sydney Olympic Games four years ago.

"It was great winning in the relay, but when you do it yourself, it's the icing on the cake. This is everyone's dream. I am going to savor it for the rest of my life."

The second day's competition witnessed another world record cracked in the men's 4X100m freestyle relay, which was won surprisingly by South Africa in 3:13.17.

The previous mark of 3:13.67 was set by the Australians when they won the Olympic title in Sydney four years ago.

South Africa's upset victory also shattered American Michael Phelps's dream of winning a record-equalling seven gold medals in an single Olympics.

Phelps could only managed third in 3:14.62. The second place went to the Netherlands in 3:14.36. Australia, led by Ian Thorpe, finished a disappointing sixth in 3:16.23.

In the day's another two finals, Laure Manaudou of France won the women's 400-meter freestyle while Japan's Kosuke Kitajima beat world record holder Brendan Hansen of the United States to capture the men's 100 meters breaststroke gold.

The night was also a sweet one for Poland's Otylia Jedrzejczak, who came second behind Thomas in the women's 100m butterfly, went back to the pool to get her second silver in the 400m freestyle.

"It's always difficult to compete in two races in the same session, especially in the Olympic Games," Jedrzejczak said. "I am very satisfied with the two silvers and the times. It was my first major success in this new event."

Jedrzejczak repeated her performance in the 100m butterfly in the World Championships in Barcelona last year.

Defending champion and world record holder Inge de Bruijn of the Netherlands was behind her in 57.99.

De Bruijn has a mixed feeling after the competition.

"I don't know if I am happy or disappointed," she said. "I wanted the gold, but bronze in an Olympics is great, too."

"I did a foolish mistake, and I finished very badly."

Manaudou, 18, who won the event in this year's European Championships, clocked four minutes 5.34 seconds for the victory.

She has made dramatic improvement in the past year. She finished a distant 13th place in this event in last year's World Championships.

"I didn't think I'd be so far in front of the second swimmer," Manaudou said. "It's hard to start that fast and maintain the speed all along."

Jedrzejczak took the silver with 0.50 seconds behind. The bronze went to US swimmer Kaitlin Sandeno in 4:06.19.

"I am very happy with the time and I am having a great meet," said Sandeno.

The gold was almost sure to be in Manaudou's pocket after triple world champion Hannah Stockbauer of Germany suffered a surprising elimination Sunday morning.

Manaudou posted the fastest qualifying time for the final in 4:06.76.

Stockbauer, the 400m, 800m and 1,500m free world champion, finished fourth in the 5th heat in four minutes 10.46 seconds.

The 22-year-old German finished 12th overall, more than a second outside the time of slowest qualifier Sachiko Yamada of Japan.

"The time is not too bad for me, but I can't explain what happened," said the 2003 Swimmer of the Year named by Swimming World magazine.

Kitajima lived up to the expectation of his country because everybody in Japan believed that as the double world champion, he is sure to win the gold.

He finally clocked 1:00.08 for the win, Japan's first gold in this Olympics.

Hansen, who set an Olympic record of 1:00.01 in Saturday's semifinal, took the silver in 1:00.25.

The third place went to Hugues Duboscq of France in 1:00.88.

Hansen, who came second in Barcelona last year, set a new world record of 59.30 in the US Trials on July 8.

"I feels great, it feels so damn great," said the 22-year-old Kitajima.

"Even before starting the race, I knew this was a battle with Hansen. I thought I have to win."

Hansen, 23, said there is no surprise for the Japanese to win the title.

"I knew Kitajima would be tough so I was not surprised," he said. "I was a little bit jittery on the blocks, the beauty of these Games is that everyone is tough."

Duboscq, eighth placer in Barcelona, said: "I can't believe my eyes. I was confident because the last six qualified for this race had the same level. I had my chance to win."

Source: Xinhua