London Olympics 2012: Day 3

The U.S. team upped their medal count in the pool on day three of competition, but in a stunning turn of events, favorite in the 200m free, Ryan Lochte was shut out of the medals finishing fourth. Frenchmen Agnel Yannick, who was part of that gold medal relay the day prior picked up yet another gold in this event. With so much pressure having been placed on Lochte going into these Olympics, many are beginning to wonder, if he crumbling under the pressure?

Men's 200m Freestyle

rank lane
1      5     Agnel Yannick France 1:43.14
2      3     Taehwan Park Korea 1:44.93
2      4     Yang Sun China 1:44.93
4      2     Ryan Lochte U.S.A. 1:45.04
5      6     Paul Bidermann Germany 1:45.53
6      1     Robbie Renwick Great Britain 1:46.53
7      8     Thomas Fraser Holmes Australia 1:46.93
8      7     Danila Izotov Russia 1:47.75

But besides Lochte, there was no other bad news in the pool for the Americans on night three.

Missy Franklin surpassed expectations winning her first Olympic medal, a gold, in the 100m Backstroke. Thirty five minutes before, she qualified for the finals in the 200m Freestyle. Franklin, who drew praise early, even from the likes of Michael Phelps, is humble about all her success. She showed up at a press conference today with her gold medal in her pocket. When the press asked where it was, she quickly pulled it out exclaiming, "isn't it pretty". Something tells me this is the beginning of an amazing career for Franklin, and I know she can handle the ride.

Women's 100m Backstroke

rank lane
1     5      Missy Franklin U.S.A. 58.33 AR
2     4      Emily Seebohn Australia 58.68
3     3      Aya Jerakawa Japan 58.83
4     2      Anastasia Zueva Russia 59.00
5     7      Gemma Spofforth Great Britain 59.20
6     6      Jing Zhao China 59.23
7     1      Belinda Hocking Australia 59.29
8     8      Yuanhui Fu China 1:00.50

Four years ago in Beijing, Matt Grevers finished second to American teammate Aaron Peirsol in the 100m Backstroke. This time around it was Grevers' turn and he capitalized finishing first. His teammate, Nick Thoman picked up a silver saying that he knew when he looked up at the board that he has to get over to Matt so they could celebrate together.

 Men's 100m Backstroke

rank lane
1      4     Matt Grevers U.S.A. 52.16 OR
2      2     Nick Thoman U.S.A. 52.92
3      6     Ryosuke Irie Japan 52.97
4      5     Camille Lacourt France 53.08
5      3     Liam Tancock Great Britain 53.35
6      1     Helge Meeuw Germany 53.48
7      8     Hayden Stoeckel Australia 53.55
8      7     Feiyi Cheng China 53.77

Rebecca Soni has been called the Queen of the Breaststroke throughout the swimming world; however, in the 100m last night, she was upset by a 15 year old phenom from Lithuania who had drawn a lot of hype in the swimming world, Ruta Meilutyte. Soni did win another silver and does have a few other races to swim in during these Olympics. 

Women's 100m Breaststroke

rank lane
1      4      Ruta Meilutyte Lithuania 1:05.47
2      5      Rebecca Soni U.S.A. 1:05.55
3      1      Satone Suzuki Japan 1:06.46
4      8      Alia Atkinson Jamaica 1:06.93
5      2      Leisel Jones Australia 1:06.95
6      6      Breeja Larson U.S.A. 1:06.96
7      3      Iuliia Efimova Russia 1:06.98
8      7      Rikke Pedersen Denmark 1:07.55
 
A couple days ago, I blogged on here about how wonderful our Men's Gymnastics Team was. They are still wonderful, and they lead the world in qualifying for the team event finishing in first place. Many within the sport of gymnastics felt they were the team to beat, this time would be theirs; they would be the first U.S. Men's Gymnastics Team to win a team gold. I have no idea what happened, and I am sure many are wondering the same, but in a strange turn of events, they tumbled all the way to fifth place, not even winning a medal of any color.

The Chinese team who had struggled 48 hours before and looked disastrous, miraculously walked away with gold, yet again. Japan, after contesting a low scoring pommel horse program by one of it's gymnast, won their request and a silver. Great Britain was more than happy to take a bronze that was well earned.

Men's Gymnastics Team Finals

1. China 275.997
2. Japan 271.952
3. Great Britain 271.711
4. Ukraine 271.526
5. U.S.A. 269. 952

Switching diving partners paid off for diver David Boudia who won a bronze medal in the 10m Platform with his new partner Nick McCrory. The Chinese continued their dominance in diving winning the gold, and the Mexican team enjoyed new found success with a silver. This is Mexico's first Olympic medal in synchronized diving; they deserved it because they did dives with a high degree of difficulty.

Men's Synchronized 10m Platform

1. Yuan Coa/ Yanquan Zhang China 486.78
2. Ivan Garcia Navarro/ German Sanchez Sanchez Mexico 468.90
3. David Boudia/ Nick McCrory U.S.A. 463.47


n.b. all the Olympics photos on this blog are from www.nbcolympics.com