Britta Steffen of Germany celebrates during the final of women's 50m freestyle at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in the National Aquatics Center, also known as the Water Cube in Beijing, China, Aug. 17, 2008. Britta Steffen won the gold medal in a new olympic record with 24.06 seconds.[Xinhua]

Britta Steffen of Germany won the women's 50m freestyle gold medal at the Beijing Olympic Games here on Sunday.

Steffen clocked in an Olympic record of 24.06 seconds to beat the previous mark of 24.13 set up by Inge de Bruijn of the Netherlands on September 22, 2000.

American Dara Torres got the silver in 24.07 and Australian Cate Campbell finished third in 24.17.