Van der Burgh bags gold and breaks world record
South Africa's Cameron Van Der Burgh swims to place first in the men's 100m breaststroke final at the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Aquatics Centre July 28, 2012. REUTERS/Toby Melville (BRITAIN - Tags: SPORT OLYMPICS SPORT SWIMMING)
Image by: TOBY MELVILLE / REUTERS
Image by: TOBY MELVILLE / REUTERS
Swimmer Cameron van der Burgh set a new world record as he won South Africa's first medal at the London Olympics in the men's 100m breaststroke final on Sunday night.
Van der Burgh finished in a time of 58.46 -- 0.12 seconds faster than the previous record held by Australian Brenton Rickard.
Another Australian, Christian Sprenger (58.93), finished second, and Brendan Hansen of the United States (59.49) clinched the bronze medal.
Van der Burgh had qualified for the final in emphatic style on Saturday when he won his semi-final by breaking the previous South African, African and Olympic records with a time of 58.95.
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