Phelps beats Lochte in 200 IM to secure Another Gold Medal

By PAUL NEWBERRY | Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — Michael Phelps spent the day thinking about all the things he's doing for the final time at the pool. It turns out that included one last win over Ryan Lochte.

Phelps finally has a gold all his own at his final Olympics.

Adding to an already unprecedented medal collection, he claimed his first individual victory of the London Games and handed Lochte a double disappointment on his rival's final night in the pool Thursday.

Phelps set the tone right from the start with a dominating butterfly leg to become the first male swimmer to win the same individual event at three straight Olympics in the 200-meter individual medley. He claimed his 20th career medal — and 16th gold — in 1 minute, 54.27 seconds, just off his winning time in Beijing but still good enough for gold, just ahead of Lochte.

When it was done, there wasn't that water-pounding celebration we've seen so many times from Phelps — just a slight smile as he hung on the lane rope, gazing up at the stands and soaking it all in.

"Going into every call room, I said it's my last semifinal or my last prelim," Phelps said, reflecting on a busy day that included a morning swim, then two more races in the evening. "We're kind of chalking up all the lasts of certain things."

As he stepped on the medal podium — yep, that familiar top rung — Phelps' eyes were glassy and he whispered something to Lochte. Then, staring up at the U.S. flag while the nation anthem played, he bit his lip and seemed to be struggling to hold back the tears.

Phelps has never been too revealing with his emotions away from the pool.

But, with just two days to go in his swimming career, there's a definite chink in the facade.

He's starting to look as human out of the water as he is superhuman in it.

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Phelps qualifies 5th fastest for 200 fly

By BETH HARRIS (AP Sports Writer) | The Associated Press – 6 hours ago'

LONDON (AP) -- Michael Phelps opened defense of his Olympic title in the 200-meter butterfly with the fifth-fastest qualifying time in the preliminaries Monday.

Phelps has yet to have the quickest time in the morning heats at the London Games four years after he won a record eight gold medals in Beijing.

He finished third in his heat at 1 minute, 55.53 seconds, trailing Dinko Jukic of Austria and U.S. teammate Tyler Clary to the wall.

"I'm pretty happy with that swim," Phelps said. "That's all I needed it to be."

Phelps has won the 200 fly at the last two Olympics and set the world record at the 2009 world championships.

[ Video: Phelps' new workout routine: combat training ]

He was back in the water hours after swimming a solid second leg on the 4x100 freestyle relay that took silver after Ryan Lochte was overhauled by the French on the closing lap.

"Just getting last night sort of out of the way was something that I needed," Phelps said. "I guess I got to bed pretty late. We're all falling asleep pretty late. We're all excited."

Phelps' mother, Debbie, nodded her head slightly when she saw her son had safely advanced. He was the slowest qualifier for the 400 individual medley final on Saturday, and his surprising fourth-place finish kept him off the medals podium.

"I have no idea what it was, but I don't think it had anything to do with confidence," he said. "I felt I was ready to swim faster than that. It just didn't happen."

Jukic had the top time of 1:54.79, while Clary was second-best at 1:54.96 in advancing to the evening semifinals.

"I felt fantastic. The time was faster than it was at trials," Clary said. "I hurt a heck of a lot more at the end of the race in trials. So I had actually said to myself coming into the third wall that I was amazed at how well I felt. Just wanted to see what I could bring it home in."

Velimir Stjepanovic of Serbia was third at 1:54.99. Others who made the semis included Chad le Clos of South Africa (fourth), 2008 bronze medalist Takeshi Matsuda of Japan (eighth), 2008 silver medalist Laszlo Cseh of Hungary (ninth), Wu Peng of China (10th) and Nick D'Arcy of Australia (12th).

Federica Pellegrini qualified fastest in the 200 freestyle, keeping the Italian on course to defend her Olympic title.

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Sun, Lochte lead 200 free qualifying - Yahoo! Sports

Sun, Lochte lead 200 free qualifying - Yahoo! Sports:

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Photo By David J. Phillip

LONDON (AP) -- Sun Yang of China and Ryan Lochte of the United States were back in the pool Sunday as the top two qualifiers in the 200-meter freestyle hours after their gold-medal efforts at the London Olympics.

Sun was fastest in 1 minute, 46.24 seconds coming off his victory in the 400 free on Saturday.
"I'll try to do my best, but the 200 freestyle is not my best event," he said. "It's more difficult for me compared to the 400 meters or the 1,500 meters."

Lochte was second at 1:46.45, having won the 400 individual medley on the first night of Olympic swimming.
"I didn't get to bed until like 2 a.m. so I'm a little tired, but it was a prelims swim, so I'm not too worried about it," said Lochte, who was out celebrating with his family.

Yannick Agnel of France was third at 1:46.60. Also advancing was Park Tae-hwan of South Korea, who finished second behind Sun in the 400 IM after initially being disqualified in the prelims and then reinstated. Park was fifth-fastest at 1:46.79.

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