The ironwoman of Australian swimming, Petria Thomas, struck Olympic gold for the second time in two days.

Thomas raised her fists in the air and looked to the heavens after winning the 100m butterfly at the Athens Games to claim the first individual Olympic gold medal of her career.

She clocked 57.72s to beat Poland's Otylia Jedrzejczak 57.84 and Dutch world recordholder Inge de Bruijn (57.99).

Thomas, at 28 the oldest woman on the Australian swimming team, has tried for eight long years to win an Olympic title but had to wait until her swansong to achieve the feat.

"Unbelievable. I never thought it would happen," she told Channel Seven.

"Last night was great winning the relay but when you can do it by yourself as well it's just icing on the cake.

"I suppose this is everyone's dream and I've got it now and I'm going to savour it for the rest of my life."

Thomas was also part of the triumphant women's 4x100m freestyle relay which set a world record to beat the United States for the gold medal.

Members of the Australian team in Greece had tears in their eyes after she touched for the butterfly gold.

She still has the 200m butterfly and two more relays to swim in Athens and has a realistic chance of winning five gold medals.

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