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Dianiel Dias competes.[Xinhua]
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Daniel Dias of Brazil and Erin Popovich of the United States both succeeded in winning their fourth gold medal in the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games on Thursday, September 11, producing the best performance so far in the Swimming competition. Eleven world records were broken in 13 finals on the fifth day of competition, but one of them remains intact since 1992.
The first medal of the day went to David Roberts of Great Britain, who defended his title comfortably in the Men's 400m Freestyle--S7 setting a new world record in 4:52.35.
Erin Popovich of the US team claimed her fourth gold in the competition in the Women's 400m Freestyle--S7 in a world and Paralympic record time of 5:17.41. Cortney Jordan of Team USA took silver and Kirsten Bruhn of Germany won bronze, as the three swimmers replicated the same results achieved in the Women's 100m Freestyle - S7 on Monday.
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Erin Popovich competes.[Xinhua]
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In the Men's 50m Breaststroke--SB3, Suzuki Takayuki of Japan won gold in a tight race with 49.06. During the Heats, Suzuki had set a world record of 48.49, breaking Germany's Christian Fritsche's 49.31 time which had stood since 1997.
Daniel Dias of Brazil also put another gold medal in his pocket and now has four golds and one silver so far in the competition. Dias finished the Men's 200m Individual Medley--SM5 well ahead of the pack, breaking the world record in 2:52.60. Defending champion He Junquan of China had to settle for the silver in 3:00.92.
In the Men's 200m Individual Medley--SM8, Peter Leek of Australia claimed gold and a world record of 2:20.92.
Jessica Long of the United States also set a world record of 2:41.85, to claim gold in the Women's 200m Individual Medley--SM8. Compatriot Amanda Everlove of Team USA won silver in 2:50.51 and Britain's Heather Frederiksen took bronze in 2:53.15.