Swimming, 2012 Olympics | featured news

Michael Phelps will swim for more gold Friday at the 2012 Games, competing in the final individual race of his storied Olympic career. Meanwhile, attention will begin to shift to Olympic Stadium as the track and field competition gets under way.

There were times in the past four years when the water was still. For days at a time, Michael Phelps didn’t bother to show up at the pool, never rippled the surface. He stayed missing so long that his coach, Bob Bowman, wondered whether they “were going to get this thing done.” But eventually — reluctantly but determinedly — Phelps towed that long torso back into the liquid, where the greatest swimmer of all time belonged.

It's time for Round 2 of Michael Phelps vs. Ryan Lochte. Their first showdown of the London Olympics went to Lochte in a runaway on the opening night of the swimming competition. This one figures to be a lot closer. The American stars compete against each other for the last time in the 200-meter individual medley on Thursday night. Lochte qualified fastest in 1 minute, 56.13 seconds. Phelps was 98-hundredths of a second back in third.

Allison Schmitt rallies the Americans to victory with a strong anchor leg... The U.S. took the gold with in an Olympic record time of 7 minutes 42.92 seconds. Australia, which had led after three legs,
was second in 7:44.41 and France was well back in 7:47.49 to take the bronze.

Nathan Adrian of the United States won the gold medal in the Olympic 100-meter freestyle on Wednesday night, completing the furious, water-thrashing, lung-busting test one-hundredth of a second faster than James Magnussen of Australia.

History unfolded in 6 minutes and 59.70 seconds. With a little help from three of his friends, Michael Phelps became the greatest Olympian of them all, winning his 19th career medal, breaking the standard set by legendary Soviet gymnast Larissa Latynina.

The Colorado teenager Missy Franklin won the 100-meter backstroke to earn her first gold medal, outracing Emily Seebohm of Australia in a stirring duel that completed a wild 20 minutes at the London Aquatics Centre for her.

Here's what to watch for at the London Olympics on Monday: 1. SWIMMING: There are four finals, with Ryan Lochte going for a second gold in the men's 200 freestyle. The less successful Michael Phelps - a phrase many are unaccustomed to hearing - will also be in the pool elsewhere; 2. GYMNASTICS: The first gold medal will be awarded in the men's team final...

France earned an Olympic-sized upset in the 400 free relay Sunday, when 20-year-old Yannick Agnel chased down Ryan Lochte on the final lap to avenge the Americans' 2008 victory... The win is France's first in the history of the event. Not only that -- it's France's first relay victory of any kind, men or women, in the history of the Summer Olympics.

She wanted an individual world record and an individual gold medal. Dana Vollmer didn’t even need 56 seconds to accomplish both feats. The former University of California swimmer and reigning world champion had the Aquatics Centre buzzing when she became the first woman to break the 56-second barrier, winning gold in the 100-meter butterfly in 55.98 seconds, a world record.