Day 4 of Swimming at the 2012 London Olympics

Women's 200 Meter Freestyle:

Allison Schmitt (AP)

The United States' Allison Schmitt, a product of the University of Georgia who trained with Michael Phelps and coach Bob Bowman in Baltimore in preparation for the Olympic games, submitted on the most dominant  and gutsiest performances of the Olympics thus far.  Schmitt strategically decided to pull ahead of the field early in the race, taking a full body length lead after the first 100 meters of the race.  None of her competitors were willing to challenge Schmitt early in the race, and by the time they picked up the pace, Schmitt was too far ahead for anyone to catch her.  Schmitt's time of 1:53.61 set a new Olympic record.  Camille Muffat of France, the gold medalist in the 400 freestyle, took the silver medal.

Men's 200 Meter Butterfly:

Chad Le Clos and Michael Phelps
(Reuters)

Michael Phelps of the United States was attempting to become the first swimmer to ever win the same event in three consecutive Olympics.  After Phelps' poor performance in the 400 IM, many wondered whether Phelps was still capable of producing the kind of performances he frequently displayed at the past two Olympics, in which he combined for 14 gold medals.  Despite leading from the beginning of the race, Phelps was never able to pull far away from Takeshi Matsuda of Japan and Chad Le Clos of South Africa.  While in the past Phelps would have broken far away from his competitors in the final 75 meters of the swim, this incarnation of Phelps lacked the same strong finish.  Although Phelps seemingly had yet another gold medal in the books, he was too far from the wall at the time that he took his final stroke.  While Phelps glided into wall, Le Clos properly timed his finish and was able to outtouch Phelps by five one hundredths of a second.  Le Clos stopped the clock with a time of 1:52.96, claiming another gold medal for South Africa which has had a tremendous start to the London games.  Matsuda took home the bronze medal.

Women's 200 Meter Individual Medley:

Ye Shiwen (Reuters)

China's Ye Shiwen, the gold medalist in the 400 IM, was caught in the midst of a tight race at the 150 meter mark of the 200 IM.  The 16 year old had yet another fantastic finish, pulling far away from the field in the freestyle leg of the swim.  Ye broke an Olympic record with her time of 2:07.57.  Alicia Coutts of Australia was the silver medalist, and the United States' Caitlin Leverenz took home the bronze.

Men's 4x200 Meter Freestyle Relay:

Michael Phelps and the United States' men's 4x 200 freestyle relay team destroyed the competition, keeping up the American tradition of dominating the event.  Ryan Lochte led off for the United States and made a superb field look ordinary by using his extraordinary turns to take a full body length lead over the field.  Connor Dwyer and Ricky Berens followed, with each one extending the lead.  By the time Phelps hopped in to swim the anchor leg for the U.S. there was no doubt that the Americans would add to their gold medal tally.  After winning the gold medal, Phelps' career Olympic medal count stands at 19, the most ever, adding to his legacy as the greatest Olympian of all time.  Yannick Agnel of France and Sun Yang of China, anchored for their countries, claiming the silver and bronze medals respectively

Michael Phelps, Connor Dwyer, Ryan Lochte and Ricky Berens
(USA Today)