Pang Jiaying, who astonishingly led the first 50 meters under world record split time of 27.01 seconds, grabbed a precious bronze for China in 1:55.05, 0.08 seconds behind runner-up Sara Isakovic of Slovenia.

Chinese sprinter Pang, 23, was extremely elated for her final result which was more than two seconds faster than her previous personal best.

"I swam fast in the first half course under my own pace, I'm so happy with the time," said Pang, after bagging home the second medal for the host swimming team.

"My coach told me that an eighth finish was OK," said Pang, "so I was really relaxed and felt no pressure at all. I was in good shape and hopefully the bronze medal could encourage our team."

Zhang Lin's silver medal in the men's 400-meter freestyle on Sunday was China's first Olympic medal credited to a male swimmer.

As the world record holder of the 400-meter freestyle, Pellegrini only managed a fifth finish in the event on Monday by clocking 4:04.56, more than three seconds off her personal best.

(Xinhua News Agency August 13, 2008)