Jones ends long wait for solo gold

By Alan Baldwin

BEIJING (Reuters) - Australian Leisel Jones won the women's 100 meters breaststroke gold at the Beijing Games on Tuesday to claim her first individual Olympic title after years of disappointment.

The world champion left nothing to chance this time, romping home with a time of 1:05.17, just 0.08 outside her own world record. American Rebecca Soni took the silver and Austria's Mirna Jukic the bronze.

"I felt shocked, but more relief. It has been a long journey, a long eight years," said Jones, who made her first Olympic appearance at Sydney in 2000.

"I gave it everything I could, I couldn't care less about the time. Olympic gold is an Olympic gold. It doesn't matter how it went or how I raced."

Jones won a gold in the medley relay at Athens in 2004 but an individual Olympic title had eluded her since she burst on the scene by taking silver in the 100 in Sydney as a 15-year-old.

She finished third in the event in 2004, when she was accused of being a sore loser with her glum reaction to missing out on gold, but changed her coach and her whole approach to swimming to find the edge she needed.

"I learned to overcome difficulties," she said.

"In Athens I got criticism. I was still in my hole, still learning about myself.

"I've enjoyed it so much I'd hate to finish knowing there's still a flame burning inside. There's so much more left in me, so much I can do."

(Additional reporting by Martin Petty, editing by Greg Stutchbury)

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