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 6 of Swimming at the 2012 London Olympics

Women's 200 Meter Breaststroke:

Rebecca Soni (Martin Bureau/AFP/Getty Images)

American Rebecca Soni set yet another world record in the 200 meter breaststroke with a time of 2:19.59.  Soni, tearing across the pool in her trademark pink suit, became the first swimmer at the London games to repeat as champion in an individual event.  Satomi Suzuki of Japan won the silver medal and Russia's Yulia Efimova, Soni's training partner in California, won the bronze.

Men's 200 Meter Backstroke:

Tyler Clary (Adam Pretty/Getty Images)

Day 6 of the Olympics for Ryan Lochte, in which he swam the finals of both the 200 backstroke and 200 IM with under 30 minutes of rest in between, was supposed to be the day in which he was to be coroneted as the world's greatest swimmer.  Lochte was attempting to be the first man in over 35 years to capture two individual golds in the same night.  Lochte appeared primed to repeat as Olympic champion in the 200 backstroke, and grabbed an early lead in the event.  Lochte led the race through the final turn, however, never pulled far away from the competition.  In the final 25 meters of the swim, Lochte weakened and was passed by both American teammate Tyler Clary  and Ryosuke Irie of Japan.  Clary, the gold medal winner, set a new Olympic record with his time of 1:53.41.  Irie's silver medal was Japan's 9th swimming medal of these games.  Lochte's bronze medal had to have been disappointing for him, but he graciously smiled on the podium and realized that winning an Olympic medal is nothing to take for granted.  Israel's Yakov Toumarkin finished 7th in the finals, the greatest achievement in Israeli swimming history.

Men's 200 Meter Individual Medley:

Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte
 (Mark Duncan/AP)

The 200 IM was the single most anticipated and dramatic event of these Olympic games, featuring the second showdown between Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte.  Lochte, the world record holder in the 200 IM, had won the first battle between the two by blowing away the field in the 400 IM on day 1 of the Olympics.  Before the second showdown, both swimmers were under excruciating pressure, not having performed quite as well as they had hoped in the London games.  When Phelps was called out of the waiting room he appeared more physically nervous and stressed out than he ever has been before a race.  Lochte had just finished swimming the 200 backstroke, disappointingly failing to defend his title as Olympic champion, and was granted special permission to cool down in the diving well. 

The 200 IM would be the final chapter in the greatest swimming rivalry of all time.  Phelps got off to an incredible start and was under world record pace in the first half of the swim.  In the butterfly leg of the swim, Phelps' strongest stroke, he took a slight lead as expected.  In the subsequent 50 meters of backstroke, Phelps really exerted himself, surprisingly extending his lead over Lochte, with the knowledge that if he allowed Lochte to come back, Lochte would likely win the race.  Lochte was unable to catch up to Phelps in the breaststroke leg of the swim, and by the time he began to make up for lost ground in the final freestyle portion of the event, it was too late.  

Michael Phelps with the gold medal
Ryan Lochte with the silver
(Reuters)

Phelps held on to win the gold medal, his record breaking 20th Olympic medal, and became the first male swimmer to ever win a gold medal in an individual event at three consecutive Olympics.  Phelps' time of 1:54.27 was only 0.04 off the world record he set in the event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, proving that his supposed demise had been greatly exaggerated.  Lochte's silver medal was the 11th Olympic medal of his career, moving him up to a tie for second behind Phelps on the all time Olympic medal list among US male athletes.  Lochte leads all athletes at the London games with 5 medals.

Laszlo Cseh of Hungary won the bronze medal, the 5th Olympic medal of his career.  Had Cseh swum in any other era he would be a multiple gold medal winner.  His tremendous career is overshadowed by Phelps and Lochte, who swam all of the same events as the Hungarian.

Women's 100 Meter Freestyle:

Ranomi Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands won the 100 meter Freestyle.  Her time of 53.00 set a new Olympic record.  Aliaksandra Herasimenia of Belarus won the silver medal, her country's second at the London games.  Yi Tang of China took the bronze.

Ranomi Kromowidjojo (Matt Slocum/AP)