Britta Steffens of Germany won the women's 50m freestyle gold medal at the Beijing Olympic Games on Sunday.

Steffens clocked in an Olympic record of 24.06 seconds to beat the previous mark of 24.13 set up by Inge de Bruijn of the Netherlands on September 22, 2000.

American Dara Torres got the silver in 24.07 and Australian Cate Campbell finished third.

Britta Steffen of Germany waves after swimming in her women's 50m freestyle semi-finals at the National Aquatics Center during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 16, 2008. [Agencies]