Aaron Peirsol and Natalie Coughlin both defended their olympic titles by winning the gold for the Americans in the men’s and women’s 100-meter backstroke.

Not only did Persol defend his title he also set a new world record in the event with the time of 52.54 seconds.

“It never gets old,” said Peirsol, who swept the backstroke golds in Athens and will try to do the same in Beijing. “It really does feel like the first time.”

As for Natalie Coughlin, she became the first woman to ever defend her title in the event by setting a new American record of 58.96 seconds.

“It hasn’t really sunk in yet,” said Coughlin, “I knew when I saw the ‘1′ by my name, because at first I thought I saw the clock wrong. It’s a great feeling.