LONDON -- Ryan Lochte turned his much-anticipated duel with
Michael Phelps into a blowout, pulling away to win the Olympic 400-meter
individual medley by more than 3 seconds Saturday night. Even more stunning:
Phelps didn't win any medal at all.
After barely qualifying for the evening final in a
performance that hinted at trouble ahead, Phelps struggled to a fourth-place
finish and was denied his 17th
career Olympic medal. When it was done, he could
barely pull himself out of the pool.
"It was just a crappy race," Phelps said. "I
felt fine the first 200, then I don't know. They just swam a better race than
me, a smarter race than me, and were better prepared than me. That's why
they're on the medal stand."
Lochte took the gold in 4 minutes, 5.18 seconds. Brazil's
Thiago Pereira (4:08.86) settled for silver, while Japan's Kosuke Hagino
(4:08.94) claimed the bronze -- beating Phelps by a fairly comfortable
34-hundredths of a second for the last spot on the podium.
It was the first time since the 2000 Sydney Games, when Phelps was a
15-year-old unknown who qualified in just one event, that he didn't win at
least a bronze in an Olympic race. Since then, he was 16 of 16 -- 14 golds and
two bronzes.
Lochte climbed out of the pool with a big smile, waving to the crowd and
looking about a fresh as he did at the start. He had predicted this would be
his year and, for the first race of the Olympics at least, he was right on the
mark.
"I think I'm kind of in shock right now," he said. As for Phelps,
"I know he gave it everything he had. That's all you can ask for."
Phelps was trying to become the first male swimmer to win the same
individual event at three straight Olympics. He'll have three more chances at a
threepeat before he's done in London, having also won the 200 individual
medley, plus the 100 and 200 butterfly, at Athens and Beijing.
But this was shocking, totally out of character for a swimmer who won six
gold medals in Athens, then a record eight in Beijing to break Mark Spitz's
Olympic record.
"I'm surprised, and not pleasantly," said Bob Bowman, Phelps'
longtime coach. "I expected he'd be in the 4:06 range."
Bowman was asked what Phelps said when he got out of the pool.
"It was horrible."
The coach's reply?
"It was."
With first lady Michelle Obama in the house waving a small U.S. flag,
everyone expected a duel between the two American stars.
Only Lochte showed up.
Phelps fell behind right from the start in the butterfly, his trademark
stroke. From there, it was all Lochte. He stretched his margin in the
backstroke and breaststroke, then cruised to the gold in the freestyle, a good
three body lengths ahead of the rest of the field.
"It's frustrating; that's all I can say. It's pretty upsetting,"
Phelps said. "The biggest thing now is to try to look forward. I have a
bunch of other races, and hopefully we can finish a lot better than how we
started."
China claimed a couple of gold medals on the opening night of swimming at
the Olympic Aquatic Centre.
Sixteen-year-old Ye Shiwen set a world record in the women's 400 individual
medley -- only the third mark to fall since high-tech bodysuits were banned at
the end of 2009. She won in 4:28.43, breaking the mark of 4:29.45 by
Australia's Stephanie Rice at the 2008 Beijing Games. American Elizabeth Beisel
took silver and China's Li Xuanxu grabbed the bronze.
Sun Yang flirted with a world record in the men's 400 freestyle. He took
gold in 3:40.14, just off the mark of 3:40.07 by Germany's Paul Biedermann in a
rubberized suit three years ago. When it was done, Sun propped himself on the
lane rope, pumping his fist and splashing the water.
South Korea's Park Tae-hwan won silver in 3:42.06, fortunate even to take
part after initially being disqualified for a false start in the prelims. The
ruling was overturned by governing body FINA a couple of hours later on appeal.
Peter Vanderkaay of the U.S. won the bronze in 3:44.69.
Australia captured gold in the women's 400 freestyle relay with an Olympic
record of 3:33.15, rallying to pass the Americans and hold off the
fast-charging Netherlands.
The U.S. got off to a blistering start with Missy Franklin swimming leadoff
under world-record pace, and the Americans were still ahead after Jessica Hardy
went next. But the Australians rallied behind Brittany Elmslie on the third
100, and Melanie Schlanger held on at the end, with Ranomi Kromowidjojo closing
fast to give the Netherlands a silver in 3:33.79.
The other members of the winning team were Alicia Coutts and Cate Campbell.
The Americans slipped to the bronze in 3:34.24, but that was still good
enough to give Natalie Coughlin the 12th medal of her career, tying Dara Torres
and Jenny Thompson as the most decorated U.S. female Olympians in any sport.
In semifinal action, Kosuke Kitajima of Japan kept alive his bid to win a
third consecutive Olympic title in the 100-meter breaststroke on Saturday.
Kitajima finished sixth in the semifinals in 59.69 seconds to advance to
Sunday's final at the Aquatics Centre. Cameron van der Burgh of South Africa qualified
fastest in 58.83 while American Brendan Hansen, the 2004 Olympic silver
medalist who was fourth in Beijing, grabbed the last spot in the eight-man
final in 59.78.
Dana Vollmer of the United States qualified fastest for the 100 butterfly
final. Her semifinal time of 56.36 was off the Olympic-record time of 56.25 she
set in the morning prelims. Alicia Coutts of Australia was second at 56.85.
Also moving on to Sunday's final was world-record holder Sarah Sjostrom of
Sweden, Claire Donahue of the United States and Ellen Gandy of Britain.
Phelps' close call in the morning prelims put him in an already uncustomary
position -- swimming on the outside in the No. 8 lane. He only had one swimmer
next to him and no idea what Lochte and the others in the middle of the pool
were doing.
Not that it would have mattered.
"I don't think the lane had anything to do with it," Phelps said.
"I just couldn't really put myself in a good spot for that race. It's
frustrating for sure. ... It's just really frustrating to start off on a bad
note like this."
Phelps still has six more events to swim in London, plenty of time to make
up for his dismal start. He remains two behind the most medals won by any
Olympian -- Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina's mark of 18.
Phelps put himself in position to swim another eight events with his
performance at the U.S. trials, but he decided to drop the 200-meter freestyle,
feeling one less race would give his body a better chance to recover and
improve his performance in the other events.
Now, he may be regretting that decision.
The 400 IM was an event he has dominated, but he dropped it from his program
after setting a world record in Beijing four years ago (4:03.84), vowing never
to swim it again.
He should had stuck with that pledge. Clearly, Phelps didn't leave himself
enough time to get back in the kind of shape he needed to win the brutal race,
having only brought it back earlier this year.
"I was lucky to get in," he said, referring to his slow time in
the morning. "I had a chance to put myself in a spot to start off on a
good note and didn't do it."
Lochte gave the Americans their first gold medal of the London Games and put
himself in position to fulfill the promise he showed at last year's world
championships, where he won five golds and beat Phelps in their two
head-to-head meetings.
The friendly rivals have one more showdown in London, in the 200 individual
medley. Phelps edged Lochte in that race during the U.S. Olympics trials, but
Lochte appears to be on top of his game when it really counts.
About a half hour after the race, the laid-back Floridian returned to the
medal podium to receive the fourth gold medal of his career.
Wearing diamond-studded grillz in his mouth and lime-green sneakers on the
feet that powered him through the water faster than anyone else, Lochte
strolled around the deck kissing his medal while Bruce Springsteen's "Born
in the USA" played over the loudspeaker.
Phelps was nowhere to be found. (http://espn.go.com)
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