Fast facts: swimming

By Compiled from Times wires

It was a tough night in the pool Wednesday for the Aussies, who saw seemingly invincible Susie O'Neill lose in the 200-meter butterfly and Jenny Thompson rally the American 800 freestyle relay team to victory over the hosts. The highlights:

MISTY HYMAN: The 21-year-old American stunned O'Neill, the defending Olympic champion, to win the 200 fly, amazing the crowd and herself. "I had to look three times, I really did," Hyman said. She led all the way to win in an Olympic record 2 minutes, 5.88 seconds, missing O'Neill's world record by seven one-hundredths of a second. O'Neill, known as "Madame Butterfly," finished second in 2:06.58.

JENNY THOMPSON: She won a record seventh gold medal by anchoring the United States to victory in the 800 free relay, moving ahead of Germany's Kristin Otto in career golds by a woman swimmer and tying Czech Republic gymnast Vera Caslavska for the second-most golds by a woman. Thompson has the 100 freestyle and another relay remaining. The U.S. team of Samantha Arsenault, Diana Munz, Lindsay Benko and Thompson won in an Olympic record 7:57.80. Australia, led by O'Neill, earned silver in 7:58.52.

PIETER VAN DEN HOOGENBAND: The Dutchman won gold in the 100 freestyle in 48.30 seconds, denying Russian Alexander Popov an unprecedented third straight Olympic title in the event. Popov rallied from sixth at the turn to claim the silver in 48.69. "I already have plenty of medals," said Popov, who trains in Australia. American Gary Hall Jr., second to Popov four years ago, took bronze in 48.73. Van den Hoogenband became the first man to sweep the 100 and 200 freestyles since American Mark Spitz in 1972.

ALSO NOTABLE: Inge de Bruijn of the Netherlands set her second world record of the Olympics, winning her 100 freestyle semifinal in 53.77 seconds, bettering the 53.80 she set in May. ... Domenico Fioravanti of Italy became the first to sweep the men's breaststroke golds, winning the 200 by three body lengths in 2:10.87. ... Americans Lenny Krayzelburg and Aaron Peirsol qualified 1-2 for the 200 backstroke final. Krayzelburg lowered the Olympic record to 1:57.27 in a semifinal. Peirsol was second in 1:58.44. ... Agnes Kovacs of Hungary set an Olympic record of 2:24.03 in qualifying for the 200 breaststroke final. ... American Tom Dolan, the 400 individual medley champion, led eight men into the 200 IM final in 2:00.38.