Liuyang Jiao of China never held the lead until the final 50 meters of the women's 200-meter butterfly final Wednesday, but a dominant final leg gave her an Olympic record and gold medal. Jiao was nearly a full second behind silver medalist Mireia Belmonte Garcia around the final turn, but finished with a time of 2:04.06, 1.19 seconds ahead of the Spaniard at the wall. Japan's Natsumi Hoshi took Bronze.
Belmonte Garcia led around the second and third turns, but simply didn't have enough gas for the final leg. Hoshi nearly caught her, finishing just .23 seconds out of silver. Jiao won the race after finishing second at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
Americans Kathleen Hersey and Cammile Adams finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Neither swimmer was in medal position at any turn in the race.
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