Kitajima wins 100m breaststroke gold

By Alan Baldwin

BEIJING (Reuters) - Japan's Kosuke Kitajima defended his Olympic 100 meters breaststroke title in a world record time of 58.91 seconds on Monday.

Kitajima, who won both the 100 and 200 gold medals in Athens in 2004, sliced 0.22 seconds off the world mark of 59.13 set by world champion Brendan Hansen of the United States in 2006.

European champion Alexander Dale Oen, who twice broke the Olympic record in the heats, won silver to hand Norway their first Olympic swimming medal.

France's Hugues Duboscq, the bronze medalist in Athens, again finished third, ahead of Hansen.

(Editing by Greg Stutchbury)

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