BEIJING — Kosuke Kitajima became one of swimming's all-time great Olympians on Monday.
Kitajima smashed the world record in the men's 100-meter breaststroke en route to a gold medal-winning performance at the Water Cube. His time of 58.91 seconds erased the previous top time — 59.13 by American Brendan Hansen in 2006 — from the record books.
The Japanese icon is the second man to win consecutive Olympic gold medals in the same breaststroke event. The first was Yoshiyuki Tsuruta, who captured back-to-back golds in the 200 breast in 1928 and 1932.