Day eight was another record breaking day at the National Aquatics Centre with 13 world records and three Paralympic records falling.
The twelve 50m Freestyle events produced exciting competition and saw Natalie du Toit of South Africa secure her final gold of the Games, bringing her total to a faultless five.
Enhamed Enhamed of Spain set a new world record of 25.12 seconds in the Men's 50m Freestyle - S11 and takes away his fourth gold medal of the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games in his final individual event. Japan celebrated a silver with Junichi Kawai of Japan and bronze went to Alexander Chekurov of Russia.
In the Women's 50m Freestyle - S11, Maria Poiani Panigati of Italy broke the world record in the morning heats with 31.21s. She did not better her time in the final, but still came away with the gold medal, her compatriot Cecilia Camellini taking silver.
Maksym Veraksa of Ukraine set himself a new world record time of 23.43s in the Men's 50m Freestyle - S12. The podium looked exactly the same as Wednesday's Men's 200m Individual Medley - SM12 with silver going to Alexander Nevolin-Svetov of Russia and Sergii Klippert of Ukraine the bronze.
Oxana Savchenko of Russia went all out in the final to break the world record with a time of 27.07 in the Women's 50m Freestyle - S12. Fellow Russian Anna Efimenko took silver and Spain's Deborah Font, the bronze.
Cameron Leslie of New Zealand had a convincing win in the Men's 150m Individual Medley - SM4, winning gold in 2:33.57. Vicente Javier Torres of Spain was the silver medalist and Suzuki Takayuki of Japan took the bronze.
Karina Lauridsen of Denmark proved her complete domination of the Women's 150m Individual Medley - SM4, breaking the world record and finishing an astonishing 19 seconds ahead of silver medalist Marayke Jonkers of Australia. Another world record was broken in this event by class SM3 swimmer, Patricia Valle of Mexico who also took the bronze medal with a time of 3:29.36.
The Men's 400m Freestyle - S6 saw Anders Olsson of Sweden knock a little more time off his own world record with 4:48.31. Darragh McDonald took Ireland's first Swimming medal finishing second fastest to take the silver and Matt Whorwood of Great Britain took the bronze.
Young Eleanor Simmonds of Great Britain erased almost seven seconds off the world record she set in March this year in the Women's 400m Freestyle - S6. Mirjam de Koning-Peper of the Netherlands took the silver to add to the other silver and gold she won this week.
Charalampos Taiganidis of Greece improved on his world record by going under one minute in the Men's 100m Backstroke - S13, swimming 59.85 seconds. Silver and bronze went to Ukraine's Oleksii Fedyna, 1:02.93 and Dmytro Aleksyeyev, 1:03.40.
Chelsey Gotell of Canada and teammate Valerie Grand Maison have been on the podium together a total of five times in Beijing. This time it was Gotell's turn for the top spot after she broke the world record in the Women's 100m Backstroke - S13, with Grand Maison taking silver. Anna Efimenko of Russia also took her fourth medal of the Games, a bronze.
David Roberts of Great Britain broke the Paralympic record which he set in Sydney 2000 in the Men's 50m Freestyle - S7 heat and then went even better in the final, breaking it again with 27.95s. Great Britain also took silver with Matt Walker and Lantz Lamback of United States got bronze.
United States' Cortney Jordan's reaction after the Women's 50m Freestyle - S7 made it clear that she was not expecting to win gold and break the Paralympic record in the process with 33.84s. Either her teammate Erin Popovich or Kirsten Bruhn of Germany had beaten Jordan in all her previous events of this week, but today Popovich had to settle for silver and Bruhn, the bronze.
Wang Xiaofu of China pleased the home crowd by breaking his world record time in the morning heats and then again in the final with a time of 26.45s in the Men's 50m Freestyle - S8. Peter Leek of Australia picked up his seventh medal of the Games, taking the silver.
The Women's 50m Freestyle - S8 Final was incredibly close, with all eight competitors finishing within one second of each other. Cecilie Drabsch Norland of Norway clinched the gold with 32.09s, Amanda Everlove of the United States took her third silver and Jacqueline Freney of Australia took her third bronze.
Matthew Cowdrey of Australia knew he would have to pull out a fast time in the Final of the Men's 50m Freestyle - S9 after Guo Zhi of China broke the Paralympic record in the morning's heat. Cowdrey rose to the challenge and managed to take the edge in the Final breaking the world record with 25.34s. China's Guo and Xiong Xiaoming took silver and bronze.
The Women's 50m Freestyle - S9 was South Africa's Natalie Du Toit's biggest challenge so far in Beijing, but although it was a tight finish, she still came away with a new Paralympic record of 29.20s and her fifth and final gold medal of the Games. The Silver went to Irina Grazhdanova of Russia with 29.33s and Louise Watkin of Great Britain took bronze, 29.80s.
Andre Brasil of Brazil broke the world record in the Men's 50m Freestyle - S10 with 23.61s and collected his third gold medal. Fellow Brazilian Phelipe Rodrigues took the Silver and Benoit Huot of Canada, collected his third bronze.
Anne Polinario of Canada won gold in the Women's 50m Freestyle - S10, swimming a time of 28.51s. Katarzyna Pawlik of Poland took the silver with 28.92s. Katrina Lewis of Australian found the bronze medal at the end of a 29.13s second run.
(BOCOG September 14, 2008)