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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Great Britain pair wins Olympic rowing gold

Great Britain's Helen Glover (L) and Heather Stanning pose with their gold medals on the podium of the women's pair final A of the rowing event during the London 2012 Olympic Games


Britain's Helen Glover and Heather Stanning won women's pair, which gives the hosting nation their first gold medal of the London Olympics, while the men's eight won the bronze.

Roared on by Princes William and Harry, the British duo - who only came together in 2010 after missing out on other boats - took a commanding lead early in the race and held off a late challenge from Australia to claim the first Olympic gold won by a British women's crew.

"Ecstatic," Glover said on the bank of the lake. "It's so surreal, it will take forever to sink in. We're just really relieved, thank you so much everyone."

The British duo had started as strong favourites for the title after dominating the international season and following their heat, in which they set an Olympic best time. They punched the air as they went over the line, waved to the crowd and covered their faces.

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Updated Medal count for 2012 London Games

Rank	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	China	17	9	4	30
2	United States	11	8	9	28
3	South Korea	6	2	4	12
4	France	5	3	4	12
5	North Korea	4	0	1	5
6	Germany	3	8	2	13
7	Italy	3	4	2	9
8	Kazakhstan	3	0	0	3
9	Japan	2	4	11	17
10	Russia	2	4	5	11
11	Great Britain	2	3	4	9
12	Hungary	2	1	1	4
13	Ukraine	2	0	4	6
14	South Africa	2	0	0	2
15	Australia	1	5	2	8
16	Romania	1	3	2	6
17	Brazil	1	1	1	3
17	Netherlands	1	1	1	3
19	Georgia	1	0	0	1
19	Lithuania	1	0	0	1
19	Slovenia	1	0	0	1
19	Venezuela	1	0	0	1
23	Colombia	0	2	1	3
23	Cuba	0	2	1	3
25	Mexico	0	2	0	2
26	Canada	0	1	5	6
27	Indonesia	0	1	1	2
27	Norway	0	1	1	2
29	Taiwan	0	1	0	1
29	Czech Republic	0	1	0	1
29	Denmark	0	1	0	1
29	Egypt	0	1	0	1
29	Poland	0	1	0	1
29	Spain	0	1	0	1
29	Sweden	0	1	0	1
29	Thailand	0	1	0	1
37	New Zealand	0	0	2	2
37	Slovakia	0	0	2	2
39	Azerbaijan	0	0	1	1
39	Belarus	0	0	1	1
39	Belgium	0	0	1	1
39	Greece	0	0	1	1
39	India	0	0	1	1
39	Mongolia	0	0	1	1
39	Qatar	0	0	1	1
39	Moldova	0	0	1	1
39	Serbia	0	0	1	1
39	Singapore	0	0	1	1
39	Uzbekistan	0	0	1	1
50	Afghanistan	0	0	0	0
50	Albania	0	0	0	0
50	Algeria	0	0	0	0
50	American Samoa	0	0	0	0
50	Andorra	0	0	0	0
50	Angola	0	0	0	0
50	Antigua and Barbuda	0	0	0	0
50	Argentina	0	0	0	0
50	Armenia	0	0	0	0
50	Aruba	0	0	0	0
50	Austria	0	0	0	0
50	Bahamas	0	0	0	0
50	Bahrain	0	0	0	0
50	Bangladesh	0	0	0	0
50	Barbados	0	0	0	0
50	Belize	0	0	0	0
50	Benin	0	0	0	0
50	Bermuda	0	0	0	0
50	Bhutan	0	0	0	0
50	Bolivia	0	0	0	0
50	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0	0	0	0
50	Botswana	0	0	0	0
50	Brunei	0	0	0	0
50	Bulgaria	0	0	0	0
50	Burkina Faso	0	0	0	0
50	Burundi	0	0	0	0
50	Cambodia	0	0	0	0
50	Cameroon	0	0	0	0
50	Cape Verde	0	0	0	0
50	Cayman Islands	0	0	0	0
50	Central African Republic	0	0	0	0
50	Chad	0	0	0	0
50	Chile	0	0	0	0
50	Comoros	0	0	0	0
50	Congo	0	0	0	0
50	Cook Islands	0	0	0	0
50	Costa Rica	0	0	0	0
50	Cote d'Ivoire	0	0	0	0
50	Croatia	0	0	0	0
50	Cyprus	0	0	0	0
50	Djibouti	0	0	0	0
50	Dominica	0	0	0	0
50	Dominican Republic	0	0	0	0
50	Democratic Republic of the Congo	0	0	0	0
50	Ecuador	0	0	0	0
50	El Salvador	0	0	0	0
50	Equatorial Guinea	0	0	0	0
50	Eritrea	0	0	0	0
50	Estonia	0	0	0	0
50	Ethiopia	0	0	0	0
50	Fiji	0	0	0	0
50	Finland	0	0	0	0
50	Gabon	0	0	0	0
50	Gambia	0	0	0	0
50	Ghana	0	0	0	0
50	Grenada	0	0	0	0
50	Guam	0	0	0	0
50	Guatemala	0	0	0	0
50	Guinea	0	0	0	0
50	Guinea-Bissau	0	0	0	0
50	Guyana	0	0	0	0
50	Haiti	0	0	0	0
50	Honduras	0	0	0	0
50	Hong Kong	0	0	0	0
50	Iceland	0	0	0	0
50	Independent Olympic Athletes	0	0	0	0
50	Iran	0	0	0	0
50	Iraq	0	0	0	0
50	Ireland	0	0	0	0
50	Israel	0	0	0	0
50	Jamaica	0	0	0	0
50	Jordan	0	0	0	0
50	Kenya	0	0	0	0
50	Kiribati	0	0	0	0
50	Kuwait	0	0	0	0
50	Kyrgyzstan	0	0	0	0
50	Laos	0	0	0	0
50	Latvia	0	0	0	0
50	Lebanon	0	0	0	0
50	Lesotho	0	0	0	0
50	Liberia	0	0	0	0
50	Libya	0	0	0	0
50	Liechtenstein	0	0	0	0
50	Luxembourg	0	0	0	0
50	Madagascar	0	0	0	0
50	Malawi	0	0	0	0
50	Malaysia	0	0	0	0
50	Maldives	0	0	0	0
50	Mali	0	0	0	0
50	Malta	0	0	0	0
50	Marshall Islands	0	0	0	0
50	Mauritania	0	0	0	0
50	Mauritius	0	0	0	0
50	Micronesia	0	0	0	0
50	Macedonia	0	0	0	0
50	Monaco	0	0	0	0
50	Montenegro	0	0	0	0
50	Morocco	0	0	0	0
50	Mozambique	0	0	0	0
50	Myanmar	0	0	0	0
50	Namibia	0	0	0	0
50	Nauru	0	0	0	0
50	Nepal	0	0	0	0
50	Nicaragua	0	0	0	0
50	Niger	0	0	0	0
50	Nigeria	0	0	0	0
50	Oman	0	0	0	0
50	Pakistan	0	0	0	0
50	Palau	0	0	0	0
50	Palestine	0	0	0	0
50	Panama	0	0	0	0
50	Papua New Guinea	0	0	0	0
50	Paraguay	0	0	0	0
50	Peru	0	0	0	0
50	Philippines	0	0	0	0
50	Portugal	0	0	0	0
50	Puerto Rico	0	0	0	0
50	Rwanda	0	0	0	0
50	St. Kitts and Nevis	0	0	0	0
50	Saint Lucia	0	0	0	0
50	Samoa	0	0	0	0
50	San Marino	0	0	0	0
50	Sao Tome and Principe	0	0	0	0
50	Saudi Arabia	0	0	0	0
50	Senegal	0	0	0	0
50	Seychelles	0	0	0	0
50	Sierra Leone	0	0	0	0
50	Solomon Islands	0	0	0	0
50	Somalia	0	0	0	0
50	Sri Lanka	0	0	0	0
50	St. Vincent and Grenadines	0	0	0	0
50	Sudan	0	0	0	0
50	Suriname	0	0	0	0
50	Swaziland	0	0	0	0
50	Switzerland	0	0	0	0
50	Syria	0	0	0	0
50	Tajikistan	0	0	0	0
50	Tanzania	0	0	0	0
50	Timor-Leste	0	0	0	0
50	Togo	0	0	0	0
50	Tonga	0	0	0	0
50	Trinidad and Tobago	0	0	0	0
50	Tunisia	0	0	0	0
50	Turkey	0	0	0	0
50	Turkmenistan	0	0	0	0
50	Tuvalu	0	0	0	0
50	Uganda	0	0	0	0
50	United Arab Emirates	0	0	0	0
50	Uruguay	0	0	0	0
50	Vanuatu	0	0	0	0
50	Vietnam	0	0	0	0
50	British Virgin Islands	0	0	0	0
50	U.S. Virgin Islands	0	0	0	0
50	Yemen	0	0	0	0
50	Zambia	0	0	0	0
50	Zimbabwe	0	0	0	0

Most of the countries that were not named have yet to win a Medal, while some were left out because they only have 1.

Fans disappointed they can't see Olympic flame

The cauldron is made up of pronged components, which rose together when lit by seven young athletes as part of the Opening Ceremony festivities. It will be stationed at one end of the stadium, but, unlike the Bird's nest in Beijing, it's not high enough to be visible from the outside.

London's Olympic budget was cut because of the economic downturn but it's not known whether that contributed to the decision on how to place the flame.

"They have done a disappearing act with it," said Londoner Colin Millard, 58. "We can't wait to see some events, and it doesn't spoil your day, but of course you would like to think it is all part of the experience. You come to the Games, you get a photo with the flame."

Others were similarly bemused at the fact that apart from TV viewers, the only people who will able to see the flame are those fortunate enough to hold tickets for the track and field competition.

"It was like, now you see it, now you don't," said Linda Samuel, of Essex, just outside London. "I loved the Ceremony, and the flame was a dramatic moment. But now it's like it's not here."

The cauldron was the brainchild of designer Thomas Heatherwick and is made up of 204 flames in copper-petal bowls, representing the participating nations. They are mounted on stems of stainless steel, which were then painted in a shade of blue known as "bad black."

The cauldron stands at 25 feet high and weighs more than 35,000 pounds. At the end of the Games, the prongs will be dismantled and each one presented to the nation it represents.