Stephanie Rice of Australia broke the world record to win the women's 400m individual medley gold medal at the Beijing Olympic Games in Beijing on Sunday.

Rice clocked in the winning time of 4:29.45, which beat the previous record of 4:31.12 set up by American Katie Hoff on July 29, 2008.

Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe finished second in 4:29.89, also within the previous world mark, and Hoff was placed third in 4:31.71.

(Xinhua News Agency August 10, 2008)