Sun Yang
Sun Yang made a historic milestone to become China's first ever male gold medalist in swimming, as he continued to build another Asian supremacy for the event, together with an Olympic record. He held off South Korea's defending champion Park Tae-hwan on the final stretch to effortlessly secure the gold medal in a sterling time of 3:40.14, cutting off Ian Thorpe's 2000 Olympic record by nearly half a second.