USC’s Soni takes gold in women’s 200m breaststroke

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

BEIJING -- Rebecca Soni, a communications major at USC, claimed the gold medal in the women’s 200-meter breaststroke with a world-record time of 2 minutes, 20.22 seconds Friday. Her effort took 0.32 seconds off the previous mark, set by Australia’s Leisel Jones in 2006.

The silver medal went to Jones with a time of 2:22.05, and Sara Nordenstam of Norway won the bronze with a 2:23.02.

Although several USC women swimmers have won gold medals on relays, it has been more than 20 years since a USC woman has won an indivudal gold.

The last one to accomplish that was Canadian Anne Ottenbrite, who won the breaststroke at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.

-- Debbie Goffa

*Updated with USC history.

Photo: Rebecca Soni with her gold.
Credit: Martin Bureau/ AFP /Getty Images