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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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.

IOC Gets Americans Asking for Rule Change

LONDON – American athletes risked disqualification by leading a revolt against the International Olympic Committee on Monday and its draconian laws of forbidding competitors from using social media to promote their sponsors.

Spurred on by the outspoken words of members of the United States team, Olympians from around the world launched a Twitter campaign under the hashtags #Rule40 and #WeDemandChange in an attempt to pressure the IOC into action.

Rule 40 is the section in the athletes’ code of conduct that warns anyone flouting the strict guidelines on the use of social media as a promotional tool will be expelled from the Games.

Dozens of athletes responded angrily, including U.S. 400-meter star runner Sanya Richards-Ross.

"I'd love to show my great sponsors love," Richards-Ross said. "I am one of the very fortunate athletes that work with wonderful sponsors during the Olympic year. [This is an] injustice."

Others took to Twitter to voice their displeasure, although most were careful to avoid any direct mention of the companies that endorse them.

The IOC also frowns upon strong criticism of the organization. National committees warned their athletes that any act of dissent, such as the Rule 40 tweets, could be grounds for disqualification.

That did not stop U.S. 20-kilometer race walker Maria Michta, who gave a heartfelt and eloquent description of how the regulations have affected her.

Read the Rest of this story @ Yahoo!

DT12, Dream Team 2012

TEAM USA, aka DT12