Olympic Update (Swimming and Track and Field)

Day 8 of Swimming:

Ranomi Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands, the champion of the 100 meter freestyle, won the gold medal in the 50 meter freestyle with a time of 24.05, a new Olympic record.

Sun Yang of China proved that he is the world's top distance swimmer.  After having won the 400 free and having taken the silver in the 200 free, he won the gold medal in the 1500 meter freestyle on the final day of the competition with a time of 14:31.02, a new world record.

The U.S. Men's and Women's 4x100 medley relay teams
(Sports Illustrated)

The United States won the women's 4x100 meter medley relay and set a new world record in the event.  Missy Franklin led off by swimming the backstroke leg of the relay and Rebecca Soni followed with the breaststroke.  The Russians, however, remained in close pursuit.  Dana Vollmer, the world record holder in the 100 meter butterfly opened a huge gap, and Allison Schmitt anchored to bring home the gold.

The United States men's 4x100 medley relay followed suit in what was the final event of Michael Phelps' illustrious swimming career.  Matt Grevers led off with the backstroke, Brendan Hansen followed with the breaststroke, Phelps swam the butterfly and Nathan Adrian broke away from the field in the freestyle, giving Phelps the 22nd Olympic medal and 18th gold medal of his career.

Track and Field

100 Meters:

Usain Bolt
(Tyler Anderson/National Post)

Usain Bolt repeated as Olympic champion in the 100 meters, the world's fastest man competition.  Bolt broke away from the pack in the final 40 meters of the race.  The Jamaican broke his own Olympic record with a time of 9.63.  His countryman Yohan Blake, who had defeated Bolt in the Jamaican Olympic trials, won the silver medal with a time of 9.75.

Usain Bolt won by  a huge margin
(Reuters

American Justin Gatlin, the Olympic champion in 2004 who served a 4 year doping suspension from 2006-2010, took the bronze medal with a personal best time of 9.79, defeating fellow American Tyson Gay by only 0.01.




200 Meters:
Jamaica, a tiny island in the Caribbean with a population of fewer than 3,000,000 people, continued to exert its dominance of the track and field sprinting events by sweeping the medal stands in the men's 200 meter race.  Usain Bolt cemented his status as one of the greatest sprinters of all time by becoming the first man to ever win both the 100 and 200 meter sprints in consecutive Olympics.  Bolt won the gold medal with a time of 19.32, and nearly set an Olympic record despite intentionally slowing down substantially at the end of the race.  Yohan Blake, the silver medalist in the 100 meters, won the silver medal with a time of 19.44.  Warren Weir won the bronze with a time of 19.84.

The Jamaicans swept the 200 meter sprint
From left: Warren Weir, Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake
(AP/Lee Jin-man)

Day 5 of Swimming at the 2012 London Olympics

Men's 200 Meter Breaststroke:

Daniel Gyurta (Matt Slocum/AP)

Daniel Gyurta of Hungary has come a long way since winning the silver medal in the 200 Breaststroke as a wide-eyed 15-year old at the 2004 Athens Olympics.  Gyurta had an extremely disappointing Beijing Olympics four years ago, failing to medal in his signature event, and failing to qualify for even the semifinals in the 100 breaststroke.  This time around Gyurta performed to his full capability, setting a new world record in the 200 Breaststroke with a time of 2:07.28.  Japan's Kosuke Kitajima, who was attempting to become the first swimmer to ever win the same event in three consecutive Olympics, charged ahead of the field in the first half of the swim well ahead of world record pace.  Gyurta did not panic and instead swam a strategic race, charging back like a freight train in the final 100 meters of the swim to win his first ever Olympic gold medal.  Michael Jamieson of Great Britain was willed to a silver medal by the fervor of the wildly cheering London crowd.  Kitajima, who had won every individual breaststroke event at the previous two Olympics, was passed for the bronze medal by his countryman Ryo Tateishi in the final meters of the swim.

Jiao Liuyang (David Gray/Reuters)

Women's 200 Meter Butterfly:

Jiao Liuyang of China won the 200 Butterfly with a time of 2:04.05.  Jiao, the silver medalist in Beijing continued the Chinese dominance of the event by pushing past Mareia Belmonte-Garcia of Spain in the final 25 meters of the swim to win the gold medal.

Men's 100 Meter Freestyle:

Nathan Adrian (Martin Bureau/Getty Images)

The 100 meter freestyle is the single most prestigious event in swimming competition.  This year's stacked field only added to the drama and intensity of the race.  The competitors included Yannick Agnel, the French national hero from the 4x100 freestyle relay and gold medal winner in the 200 freestyle, Cesar Cielo Filho, the Brazilian world record holder and 2009 world champion in the event, James "The Missile" Magnussen, the Australian defending world champion in the event, Nathan Adrian, the fastest American in the event, and Brent Hayden, the Canadian record holder and 2007 world champion. 

Nathan Adrian's finish (NBC)

The event certainly lived up to expectations and proved to be one of the most memorable races in recent memory and an instant classic.  Adrian got off to a furiously fast start with his arms churning at unimaginable speeds.  Adrian began to slow down in the second 50 and Magnussen surged ahead to take the lead going into the wall.  When Adrian had finished swimming, he was certain that Magnussen had out touched him.   One quick glance up at the scoreboard allowed him to let out a roar of victory.  Adrian had won the gold medal with a time of 47.52, defeating Magnussen by the slimmest of margins, only one 100th of a second.  Adrian's victory denied Australia of an opportunity to win its first individual swimming gold medal of these Olympic games.  Adrian is the first American to win the event since Matt Biondi in the 1988 Seoul Olympics.  Hayden took home the bronze medal.

Women's 4x200 Freestyle Relay:

American relay (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

The American women's 4x200 freestyle relay matched its male counterpart in dominating the event and claimed yet another gold medal for the United States.  By the time that Allison Schmitt, the gold medalist in the 200 freestyle, dived in to anchor for the United States, both the Americans and Australians had pulled far ahead of the field.  Schmitt had yet another incredible swim, helping her relay teammates Missy Franklin, Dana Vollmer and Shannon Vreeland set a new Olympic record and defeating the Australians by a full body length.

Additional Notes:

Women's 200 Meter Breaststroke Semifinals:

Rebecca Soni of the United States broke a world record with a time of 2:20.00.

Men's 200 Backstroke semifinals

Yakov Toumarkin of Israel qualified for the finals in the 200 Meter Backstroke becoming the first Israeli to qualify for the Olympic finals in swimming since Eitan Orbach in the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

Toumarkin (Getty Images)

Day 2 of Swimming at the London Olympics

Dana Vollmer

Women's 100 Meter Butterfly:

American Dana Vollmer had a breathtaking performance in winning the gold medal in the 100 meter butterfly.  The Berkeley based swimmer stopped the clock at 55.98, setting her first ever individual world record.  Vollmer, the world, pan pacific and now Olympic champion, pulled away from the field in the last 50 meters of the race and defeated silver medalist Lu Ying of China by nearly a second.  Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom, the previous world record holder who won the event at the 2009 world championships as a 16 year old, failed to medal placing 4th in the event.  Alicia Coutts of Australia won the bronze medal.

Men's 100 Meter Breaststroke:

Cameron Van Der Burgh

South Africa's Cameron Van Der Burgh opened the 100 meter breaststroke at a blistering speed and never looked back.  The gold medal winner set a new world record with an incredible time of 58.46.  Van Der Burgh had previously dedicated his swim to his good friend Alexander Dale Oen of Norway, the defending world champion in the event, who died earlier this year.  Christian Sprenger of Australia tok the silver medal and the bronze medal went to Brendan Hansen, the American who recently returned from retirement.  Japan's Kosuke Kitajima was gunning for his third straight Olympic gold medal in the event, and will have another chance to try to become the first swimmer to ever win an event in three straight Olympics later this week in the 200 meter breaststroke.

Women's 400 Meter Freestyle:

Camille Muffat

Camille Muffat of France and Allison Schmitt of the U.S. swam well ahead of the field for the entire duration of the 400 meter freestyle.  Schmitt, who trains in Baltimore with Michael Phelps under coach Bob Bowman, was unable to keep up with Muffat in the last 75 meters and claimed the silver medal.  Muffat's gold medal winning performance set a new Olympic record at 4:01.45.  Great Britain's Rebecca Addlington the defending champion, was willed to the bronze medal by the wildly cheering fans.

Men's 4x100 Meter Freestyle Relay:

The American 4x100 meter freestyle relay team appeared to be cruising towards the gold medal, before a wild finish changed everything.  In the Beijing Olympics in 2008, the French led the Americans by nearly a second before the final leg of the relay, in which Jason Lezak shockingly came back to keep Michael Phelps' quest for 8 gold medals alive.  This time around, it was the Americans who had a substantial lead over the field prior to the anchor leg.  Nathan Adrian opened the swim for the Americans, followed by Phelps who swam his fastest ever 100 meter freestyle and took a full body length lead over the field.  By the time Cullen Jones finished the third leg of the relay, Ryan Lochte, the anchor, seemingly had a guaranteed victory.  Yannick Agnel, the anchor for the French, incredibly overtook Lochte to claim the gold medal for the French, who had been waiting four years for a chance at revenge.   The relay of Clement Lefert, Amaury Leveraux, Fabien Gilot and Agnel delivered France its first ever gold medal in the event.

French 4x100 freestyle relay team