Chad le Clos of South Africa beat American superstar Michael Phelps in the Men’s 200m Butterfly at the London Olympics in the Aquatics Centre on Tuesday evening in a time of 1 minute and 52.96 seconds. Although Le Closdenied Phelps the chance to become the Olympic Champion in the same event at three consecutive Games, Phelp’s can still claim the title of Greatest Olympian after winning his 19th medal. Japan’s Takeshi Matsuda completed the final podium place.
The fifth Olympic Record of the London Aquatics fell to US swimmer Allison Schmitt in the Women’s 200m Freestyle in a time of 1 minute and 53.61 seconds. Nearly two seconds behind Schmitt, French Olympic Champion in the 400m Freestyle Camille Muffat took silver, while Bronte Barratt of Australia took bronze. Muffat said after the medal ceremony “I’m a bit disappointed in my swim, as the 400m Freestyle earlier in the week went better, but finishing in second place is still pretty cool”.
The first event of Tuesday evening saw the semi-finals of the Men’s 100m Freestyle take to the blocks. Australian sprinter James Magnussen heads the field in to tomorrow night’s final in a time of 47.63. After his race Magnussen commented “It feels good to be swimming fast again”. Also swimming sub-48 seconds is second placed American Nathan Adrian, while surprise Cuban swimmer Hanser Garcia is third.
In the Women’s 200m Butterfly American Kathleen Hersey will lead the rest of the field in to tomorrow night’s final. In second and third place lie China’s Jiao Liuyang and Natsumi Hoshi of Japan.
The Men’s 200m Breaststroke saw British swimmer Michael Jamieson set a new British record and finish first for tomorrow night’s final. Hungary’s Daniel Gyurta is in second place while Jamieson’s fellow country-man Andrew Willis is in third place.
Ye Shiwen of China won the second Individual medley event of the Olympics, the 200m I.M in a new Olympic Record time of 2.07.57 ahead of Alicia Coutts of Australia. United States swimmer Caitlin Leverenz completed the third and final podium place.
Last event of the evening saw the American Men’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay win the gold medal in a time of 7.59.70 ahead of the French team. Michael Phelps who anchored the American relay, got some highlight of his 2012 Olympics by winning his first gold medal of the competition. China beat off Germany to take the bronze medal, as 400m Olympic champion from earlier in the week Sun Yang anchored China’s final leg.
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