Chinese Liu Zige won the women's 200m butterfly gold medal in a world record time at the Beijing Olympics on Thursday.

It is the host nation's first swimming gold at the games.

Liu touched in 2:04.18, eclipsing the previous world mark of 2:05.40 set by Australian Jessicah Schipper in 2006.

Fellow Chinese Jiao Liuyang took silver in 2:04.72 and Australia's Jessicah Schipper grabbed the bronze in 2:06.26.

(Xinhua News Agency August 14, 2008)