(UPDATES with quotes)
LONDON, July 29 (RIA Novosti) - U.S. swimmer Dana Vollmer won the women's 100 meter butterfly on Sunday, setting a new world record in the process.
Vollmer won in 55.98 seconds, shaving eight hundredths of a second off Sarah Sjostrom's former mark.
"I'm so excited and on top of the world right now," Vollmer said.
"I've never had an individual world record and now gold medal. Everything went as I could have wanted. I had a long finish so I could still go faster," she added.
China's Lu Ying claimed the silver in 56.87, with Alicia Coutts of Australia taking bronze a split second back.
Vollmer, a 2004 Athens gold medalist in the 4 x 200m freestyle, had set an Olympic record of 56.36 seconds in the heats and lead the final from the front to win comfortably.
Sweden's Sjostrom had to settle for fourth.
