Day 7 of Swimming at the 2012 London Olympics

Women's 200 Meter Backstroke:

Missy Franklin (European Photopress Agency)

Missy Franklin, the 17 year old from Colorado, added to her medal haul Friday night by winning the gold medal in the 200 Backstroke.  Franklin's time of 2:04.06 shattered the world record, and defeated silver medalist Anastasia Zueva of Russia by nearly 2 seconds, an eternity in the swimming pool.  Franklin's American teammate Elizabeth Beisel won the bronze medal.  Franklin, the breakout star of these Olympic games, had already won gold in the 100 backstroke and 4x200 freestyle relay, silver in the 4x100 freestyle relay, and qualified for the finals of the 100 and 200 freestyles.

Men's 100 Meter Butterfly:

Michael Phelps (Reuters)

By winning the 100 Meter Butterfly, likely the final individual event of his swimming career, Michael Phelps further cemented his legacy as arguably the greatest Olympian of all time.  The victory gave Phelps his 17th Olympic gold medal and 21st overall Olympic medal, by far the most by any athlete in the history of the Olympic games.  Phelps became the first swimmer to ever win two individual events in three consecutive Olympics. 

At the halfway point of the race, victory appeared to be far from certain for Phelps, who was 7th at the turn.  In the final 50 meters, Phelps charged ahead to the lead, as he has often done in his illustrious career, winning with a time of 51.21, nearly a second and a half off his world record in the event.  Chad Le Clos of South Africa, who shockingly defeated Phelps in the 200 butterfly, tied for the silver medal with Evgeny Korotyshkin of Russia.  On the podium, Le Clos told Phelps that he had long looked up to Phelps as his hero, and the two embraced in a moment that demonstrated Phelps' far reaching impact on the sport of swimming.

Women's 800 Meter Freestyle:

Katie Ledecky (Toni L. Sandys/Washington Post)

Katie Ledecky, the 15 year old swimming phenom from Bethesda, Maryland, won the gold medal in the 800 freestyle.  Ledecky's meteoric rise to Olympic champion has included over 15 seconds of improvement in the 800 since the beginning of the year.  Ledecky burst out to a shockingly fast speed in the 800, pushing well ahead of defending Olympic champion and world record holder Rebecca Addlington of Great Britain.  Ledecky never let up, held her form and won the gold with a time of 8:14.63, only half a second off of the world record.  At this point in the evening, the United States had swept the gold medals, and continued to exert its dominance in the swimming world.  Mareia Belmonte Garcia of Spain won the silver medal, her second of these games, and Addlington took home the bronze. 

Men's 50 Meter Freestyle:

Florent Manadou of France won the 50 freestyle, the shortest Olympic event, with a time of 21.34.  Cullen Jones of the United States had a terrific performance in winning the silver medal, and world record holder Cesar Cielo Filho of Brazil claimed the bronze.  Manadou entered the Olympics with only the 10th fastest time in the world this year, but surprisingly came out on top.  His sister Laure was the gold medalist in the 400 free at the 2004 games in Athens.

Cullen Jones, Florent Manadou, Cesar Cielo Filho (Al Bello/ Getty Images)