Steffen completes sprint double

BEIJING (Reuters) - Britta Steffen of Germany won the women's 50 meters freestyle on Sunday to complete the sprint double, beating the 41-year-old Dara Torres by just 0.01 seconds.

Steffen, who led from the front, touched the wall in 24.06 seconds with American Torres touching in 24.07 while Cate Campbell of Australia, 25 years younger than Torres, took bronze with a time of 24.17.

Steffen, who hails from a former industrial town in Eastern Germany and lives in a modest one-room flat, had won the 100 meters freestyle Friday.

"I am very happy that I was able to take the lead from the beginning. In the first 20 meters, I noticed Dara besides me, my coach had told me the last 10 meters would decide the result," she said.

Torres, who won silver in the 4x100, is the oldest medalist in Olympic swimming and has now claimed 11 career medals.

She is the first U.S. swimmer to compete in five Olympics and has twice come out of retirement, most recently following the birth of her now two-year-old daughter.

Campbell, 16, was born in Malawi and moved with her family to Australia when she was nine and she said that she was delighted to have picked up a medal ahead of schedule.

"You can't buy experience, you can't learn experience, you have experience the experience. I am stoked to win an individual medal at my first Olympics. For my first time, I couldn't have asked for anything better," she said.

(Editing by Greg Stutchbury)