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