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)