Updates from London of the Americans in the Swimming Pool
7/29/2012
The excitement of the Olympics is under way with just having completed the second day of competition. Things appear to have been getting a cool splash in a heated match up with poolside events captivating most of the attention so far. What's at stake for some of the notables is the four time Olympic star Michael Phelps who is one medal away from tying a 1960's Russian gymnast with a total count of 18 as the most hardware ever won by an athlete. Of the 17 that Phelp's has already earned, 14 are gold and he has four of six events remaining to achieve the milestone. Still left for him to compete in are the 100M & 200M Butterfly, 200M Individual Medley and the 4X200 freestyle relay. In the two races Phelps completed through the weekend were the 400M IM, placing fourth behind teammate Ryan Lochte's Gold and the 400M Freestyle Relay finishing in second place with his four member team. The highly anticipated Lochte is scheduled for four more events: the 200M backstroke, 200M Freestyle, the shorter distance 200M IM where he'll face Phelps once again, 4X100 Medley Relay and 4X200 Freestyle Relay.
Other male swimming events that are to be amazing to watch but don't include the two superstars include the 50M and 100M freestyle, 100M Butterfly, 100M backstroke, 200M breastroke and the open water 10k marathons. The 100M Mens breastroke was completed as USA's Brendan Hansen took bronze behind standout Russian competitor Cameron van Der Burgh. Also the men's 400M freestyle wrapped up on Saturday with a solid matchup of the defending '08 champion Park Tae-hwan of South Korea placing second behind Chinese Sun Yang, while notable finishes by US's Peter Vanderkaay(3rd) and Conor Dwyer(5). The US men's have sent a member to the podium in each of the four events so far with Lochte's achieving the only gold so far.
View full list of USA swimmers here...
In the women's competition it had been a triumphant gold place medal in the 100M butterfly for the storied Dana Vomer who failed to qualify for the '08 games after winning gold in an '04 relay. She was trailing in the first 50m of the race against China's Yu Ling put perseverance paid off proving that her second 50M is strongest and clipped nearly a one second win. The British hometown favorite, Rebecca Adlington had high expectations for herself and among fans upon entering the 400M freestyle on Sunday. But she didn't have what it takes to stand at the top spot on the podium as she had to settle for third. The French Camille Mulfat broke the Olympic record with a time of 4:01:45 and American Allison Schmidt maintained a silver spot between the two of them to represent the US women's four trips to the podium in as many events so far. The two other events bringing medals were the 400M IM where Elizabeth Biesel silvered and team USA's 4X100 Freestyle relay bronze finish.