PHELPS BREAKS OLYMPIC RECORD WITH 19 MEDALS
By Giles Malone // July 31, 2012
LIVE REPORT FROM THE 30th Olympiad
EDITOR’S NOTE: SpaceCoastDaily.com’s Giles Malone, a native of England and 30-year resident of Brevard County, is in London covering the Olympic Games. He is providing his unique perspective of the games, and his native country, as he travels to the various venues to report back to the Space Coast on all the glamour and excitement of the 30th Olympic Games.
THE OLYMPIC GAMES • LONDON, ENGLAND – It’s a beautiful evening here at the Olympic Aquatic Center after a very rainy day here in London and one of the big stories in the Olympic village today is the buzz about the incredible swimming performance by China’s Ye Shiwen.
Her recent Gold-winning swim in the 400 Meters was a whole 7 seconds faster than her previous personal best in the world championships last July. That large improvement has caused many people to question if the athlete used performance enhancing drugs which are against the rules of the Olympics.
“The performance is suspicious and it brings back a lot of awful memories,” said John Leonard, executive director of the World Swimming Coaches Association referring to the Irish Swimmer Michelle Smith’s race in the same event at the Atlanta Olympics in1996 as she was later banned for four years for doping in 1998.
The Chinese have a history of using such drugs and have been sanctioned before. However, many athletes have come out in support of the Chinese athlete.
Allison Schmitt Wins Gold
In the Womens 200 Meters Freestyle Final, Allison Schmitt had a big start and she never looked back as she destroyed the field and won going away.
The young american who trains with Michael Phelps had a huge and visible smile as she waived triumphantly to her family in the stands.
Mens 200 Meters Butterfly
Michael Phelps in lane 6 in the Mens 200 Meters Butterfly, led the entire field but had to settle for Silver as Chad le Clos from South Africa beat him by .05 of a second with a harder push at the very end. It was so close that the entire arena was stunned at how close it was.
Phelps congratulated a very emotional le Clos in the pool in a gracious and classy way.
Chad le Clos’ father Burt was the happiest man in the world, “I’ll never be happier than this. I am so proud of my son for beating the greatest swimmer ever,” said le Clos.
In the Womens 200 Meter Medly, Caitlin Leverenz of the USA won Bronze behind the controversial Chinese phenom Ye Shewen (Gold) and Alicia Coutts (Silver) from Australia.
In the Mens 4 x 200 Meters Freestyle Relay, USA smashed the rest of the field. Lochte gave the USA a huge lead after his first leg and the USA never looked back.
Michael Phelps anchored the last leg and took the USA to Gold and himself into the annuls of swimming history with 19 Olympic medals, the most medals of any Olympic athlete ever. Everyone in the arena stood to give USA a standing ovation, especially Phelps for his incredible feat as the greatest Olympian of all time. Phelps Olympic Medals include an astounding 15 Gold, 2 Silver and 2 Bronze.
Talking about his Silver in the 200 Meters Butterfly Phelps said, “I had the privilege of getting to know Chad (LeClos) over the past two years and he is a hard worker, a talented kid and he got me here. The most important thing was that we won the relay and we did it. I am very happy.”
Stay tuned to SpaceCoastDaily.com for further updates from across the “pond.”
– GILES MALONE
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