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Phelps makes history as Ye claims second gold

Paul Giblin: 0 Comment(s)Print E-mail Xinhua, August 1, 2012

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LONDON, July 31 (Xinhua) -- South African Chad le Clos won the gold medal, but so did Michael Phelps, who also made Olympic history in the Aquatic Ccenter at the London Olympic Games on Tuesday night.

Phelps' silver medal in the men's 200 meters butterfly combined with the gold he won as part of the US 4 x 200 meters freestyle relay team means he has now won more Olympic medals than anyone in history.

Phelps has now won a total of 19 medals, 15 of them gold, in his Olympic career, one more than the Russian gymnast, Larisa Latymina, who won a total of 18 medals in her career, with the last of those won in 1964.

It is probable that Phelps' achievement will never be surpassed, but it could have been an ever better night for him as he had looked certain to win gold in a 200 meters butterfly which ended in dramatic fashion as Le Clos touched the wall a fingertip ahead of the American.

Phelps had led for nearly all the race and his body was ahead of Le Clos, but he seemed to mistime his finish and lose the chance to take the 15th gold medal of his career and become the first male swimmer to win the same event in three different Olympic Games by 0.05 of a second.

If gold had escaped Phelps earlier in the night, it was never going to do so in the 4 x 200 meters freestyle relay as a powerful US team, led out by Ryan Lochte, who was followed out by Conor Dwyer and Ricky Berens opened up a commanding lead for Phelps who swam the anchor.

The crowd knew they were seeing history in the making and raised the roof as Phelps completed his epoch marking swim to take the US team home in 6.59.70, 3.07 ahead of the silver medal winning French and 6.60 ahead of the Chinese, who took a surprise bronze ahead of a strong German team.

Phelps will capture headlines, but will have to share some of the glory with Ye Shiwen, who looks certain to be one of the names of these Games after she claimed her second gold medal following a tough battle with Australia's Alicia Coutts in the women's 200 meter medley.

Ye needed a typical strong final freestyle lap to overtake Coutts, who produced a strong third lap on the breast-stroke to momentarily take the lead. She also set a new Olympic record of 2.07,57, breaking her own record which she had set in Monday's semi-final.

"I didn't expect the others to swim so fast, I was surprised, but I couldn't lose the race," said Ye, who added the recent accusations of doping had not affected her.

Meanwhile Caitlin Leverenz won the bronze medal and reigning Olympic champion, Stephanie Rice finished fourth.

Allison Schmitt powered her way to a gold medal and a new Olympic record in the women's 200 meters freestyle as the 22-year-old silver medalist in the 400 meters freestyle led virtually from the start to finish ahead France's Camille Moffat, who had beaten her in the 400 meters and Australian, Bronte Barratt, who took bronze.

It had looked as if an American 1-2 was on the cards as Missy Franklin swam a great first 100 meters to go clear of the rest of the field only for the 17-year-old to tire in the third lap allowing Barratt and Moffat to overtake her and she had to settle for fourth 0.01 second behind Barratt.

"I had no idea how close it was, I was in front and I couldn't see her," said Barratt, while Schmitt was delighted with her gold.

"I've got a whole collection (gold, silver and Bronze) now," she joked. "I couldn't be happier, I couldn't see anything other than who was next to me, so I didn't know where I was or what the time was, I just tried to keep focused and to keep calm."

There was good news for the host nation as Michael Jameson won his semifinal in the 200 meters men's breaststroke with the fastest time of the year. Jameson went one better than in the 100 meters breast-stroke when he failed to qualify for the final.

Andrew Willis also made it to Wednesday's final, although he finished his semi in second place behind Hungary's Daniel Gyurta.

Women's 200 meter butterfly favorite, Jiao Liuyang won her semifinal to progress easily to Wednesday's final. The Beijing silver medalist led her race from the off and finished ahead of Hungarian, Katinka Hosszu.

Jiao's time was beaten by Kathleen Hershey in the second semifinal in which Spaniard, Mireia Belmonte finished second, but with a slower time than Jiao, while Liu Zige will also be in the final.

"Its my normal performance, all of the competitors here are very strong," said Liu..

The night began with the semi-finals of the men's 100 meter freestyle with the year's fastest swimmer James Magnussen up against World record holder, Cesar Cielo in the first heat.

Magnussen set out a message to Cielo and his other rivals by swimming 47.63, the second fastest time of the year, thanks to a powerful second lap.

"It's a relief more than anything to feel what it is like to go fast again. I've been a bit down and out of sorts up to now and I have had doubts, something I have not had in my entire career. If I can win this tomorrow, it will be for the boys in the relay team," said Magnussen.

It looks as if his main rival will be Nathan Adrian, who also swam under 48 seconds, while 200 meters freestyle champion, Yannick Agnel is also in the final after qualifying seventh overall

"It was great to swim under 48 seconds and see what the rest of the field has to offer," said Adrian. Enditem