Phelps claims first individual gold of 2012

Published 5:00 am Friday, August 3, 2012

Michael Phelps had a smile on his face after he added to his medal collection with his first individual gold medal of the London Games.

The U.S. star set the tone right from the start to become the first male swimmer to win the same individual event at three straight Olympics, capturing the 200-meter individual medley for his 20th career medal — and 16th gold. Teammate Ryan Lochte settled for silver and Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh took the bronze.

Americans Rebecca Soni (200 breaststroke) and Tyler Clary (200 backstroke) also won. Soni lowered her own world record with a time of 2 minutes, 19.59 seconds in the final.

Ranomi Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands took the 100 freestyle, clocking 53.00 to improve on her own Olympic record.

Ann Romney was on hand to watch her horse in dressage at Greenwich Park, and said she was thrilled by Rafalca’s performance.

The wife of U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was in the VIP section of the stadium for Rafalca’s Olympic debut, watching literally from the edge of her seat as the 15-year-old, German-bred mare completed the 7-minute Grand Prix test.

She and Rafalca’s other two owners gave horse and rider Jan Ebeling a rousing standing ovation and a wave as they left the arena. Their score of 70.243 percent put them in 13th place with half the 50 competitors still to go.

“She was consistent and elegant,” Romney told The Associated Press. “She did not disappoint. She thrilled me to death.”

Rafalca has been the source of political jokes and Democratic ads questioning how Mitt Romney can presume to know the problems of ordinary Americans when he inhabits the rarefied world of dressage.

Ebeling, who became a U.S. citizen in 1998, said the Romneys have been great supporters of the sport and have helped boost its visibility.

The Olympic badminton controversy continued for a third day, with the IOC demanding a deeper investigation into the scandal and an embattled Chinese player appearing to quit the tarnished sport.

Four doubles teams were kicked out of competition Wednesday, and the women — the top-seeded pair from China, two pairs from South Korea and one from Indonesia — were also set to have their accreditations removed by their national Olympic bodies and sent home.

Defending Olympic champion Yu Yang of China went further by apparently announcing her retirement from badminton.

“This is my last game,” read a posting on a verified account for Yu on the Tencent microblogging service. “Farewell Badminton World Federation. Farewell my dear badminton.”

Yu’s retirement could not be confirmed with Chinese badminton officials and was not referenced in an interview with state television.

The rest of the Olympic action Thursday:

TENNIS

Roger Federer is still rolling in his pursuit of his first Olympic singles medal. Federer beat American John Isner 6-4, 7-6 (5) and will play No. 8-seeded Juan Martin del Potro in the semifinals. Serena Williams, another reigning Wimbledon champion who is seeking her first Olympic singles medal, advanced by beating former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark 6-0, 6-3. Williams’ opponent in the semifinals today will be top-seeded Victoria Azarenka, who beat Angelique Kerber 6-4, 7-5. Russians Maria Sharapova and Maria Kirilenko will meet in the other women’s semi. Novak Djokovic also advanced on the men’s side and next plays Britain’s Andy Murray.

VOLLEYBALL

Captain Clay Stanley scored 19 points and the U.S. men’s team defeated Brazil 3-1 in a preliminary-round rematch of the Beijing final. The 23-25, 27-25, 25-19, 25-17 victory extends the United States’ Olympic winning streak to 11 matches. Leandro Vissotto Neves had 15 points for No. 1 Brazil. Poland, Russia, Bulgaria and Italy each won in straight sets. Former NBA center Vlade Divac was on hand to cheer Serbia, which fell 3-2 to Germany.

CYCLING

Germany’s Miriam Welte and Kristina Vogel checked a computer screen several times before erupting in laughter. Yup, Olympic champions. Welte and Vogel won the gold in sprint track cycling after the Chinese duo of Guo Shuang and Gong Jinjie was disqualified for a lane change in the final. The Chinese pair had finished a victory lap and was celebrating when the announcement was made. Britain broke its own world record set earlier in the day to win its second straight gold medal in the men’s team sprint. The team of Philip Hindes, Jason Kenny and Chris Hoy posted a time of 42.600 seconds, bettering the mark of 42.747 they had set in the previous round.

BEACH VOLLEYBALL

All four American teams — two in the men’s tournament and two in the women’s — finished the round-robin atop their pools, with defending gold medalists Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser beating the Czech Republic in the finale. Defending world champions Emanuel and Alison of Brazil struggled through an extended first set to beat Italy and win their group. The Brazilians beat Paolo Nicolai and Daniele Lupo 26-24, 21-18. Americans Jennifer Kessy and April Ross finished 3-0 with a 21-19, 19-21, 19-17 victory over Spain. Kerri Walsh Jennings and Misty May-Treanor finished their pool play with a No. 1 seed on Wednesday, as did Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal.

WATER POLO

Tony Azevedo scored four goals and the U.S. men’s team beat Britain 13-7 to remain undefeated at the London Games. The Americans are on top of Group B with six points, one ahead of gold medal-favorite Serbia, with two preliminary stage matches to go. Serbia played to an 11-11 draw with Montenegro. The Serbs face the U.S. on Saturday. Spain, Greece, Hungary and Croatia all won.

BOXING

U.S. boxers are dropping out of the Olympic tournament at a rapid rate. The American skid reached seven straight bouts with narrow defeats for lightweight Jose Ramirez and middleweight Terrell Gausha. Only welterweight Errol Spence and flyweight Rau’shee Warren — who hasn’t fought yet — are still alive. Ramirez started slowly and never caught up in a 15-11 loss to Uzbekistan’s Fazliddin Gaibnazarov, while Gausha was locked in a tight one with Beijing bronze medalist Vijender Singh of India before dropping a 16-15 decision. Ukraine’s Vasyl Lomachenko opened his second Olympics in the same dominant style that made him the best boxer in Beijing, overwhelming Dominican lightweight Wellington Arias in a 15-3 victory.

ROWING

The United States defended its title in the women’s eight, maintaining its six-year dominance of the high-profile event. The Americans won in a time of 6 minutes, 10.59 seconds. Canada finished a half-length behind in second and the Netherlands took the bronze. The U.S. hasn’t lost a competitive race in the eight since winning the world title in 2006. New Zealand picked up its first gold of the London Games when Nathan Cohen and Joseph Sullivan won the double sculls final at Dorney Lake. Italy and Slovenia grabbed the next two spots on the podium. South Africa captured its first Olympic rowing gold when its closing charge was enough to take the lightweight men’s four. Britain edged Denmark for silver.

SAILING

British star Ben Ainslie finally stuck his stern in front of Denmark’s Jonas Hoegh-Christensen to boost his bid for sailing history. Ainslie got his first victory at the London Olympics in Race 7 in the Finn class in strong winds and big seas on the English Channel. He followed it up by passing Hoegh-Christensen just before the finish in Race 8 to take third. Ainslie sliced Hoegh-Christensen’s lead from 10 points to three with two races to go before the medals race Defending Star gold medalists Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson went 1-2 to strengthen their lead over Brazil’s Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada, who went 3-5. The British lead with 13 points while the Brazilians have 22. Britain’s 49er crew of Stephen Morrison and Ben Rhodes won both races to jump into silver medal position.

CANOE

Britain took the top two spots in canoe slalom, upsetting the three-time defending champions from Slovakia. Tim Baillie and Etienne Stott won the gold, followed by teammates David Florence and Richard Hounslow. Slovakian twins Pavol and Peter Hochschorner settled for bronze. It was a stunning defeat for the Hochschorners, who have also won the past three world championships and are ranked No. 1. Emilie Fer of France was the surprise winner in women’s kayak slalom. Australia’s Jessica Fox took the silver, and the bronze went to Spain’s Maialen Chourraut.

HANDBALL

Ivan Cupic scored seven goals and Croatia beat Hungary 26-19 to reach the quarterfinals. Croatia leads Group B with the maximum six points, two clear of Spain and Denmark, which edged Serbia 26-25. Croatia beat Hungary 26-19. Daniel Narcisse had seven goals to help France qualify for the knockout stage by defeating Tunisia 25-19, and Argentina beat host Britain 32-21 for its first win of the tournament. Spain also won, edging South Korea 33-29, and Iceland topped Sweden 33-32.

ELSEWHERE IN LONDON

One day after upsetting Argentina at the Olympics, the U.S. women’s field hockey team lost 1-0 to Australia. … It was all China in men’s table tennis, with Zhang Jike beating teammate Wang Hao 4-1 in the singles final. China has claimed 22 of 26 gold medals since pingpong was introduced at the Olympics in 1988. … Ki Bo-bae added the individual archery title to the women’s team gold she won with South Korea. Ki edged Aida Roman of Mexico in a sudden-death shoot-off to claim the top singles spot. … British shooter Peter Wilson won the double trap gold. Hakan Dahlby of Sweden grabbed the silver, and Vasily Mosin of Russia was awarded the bronze.

U.S. men blow out Nigeria in record win

LONDON — The last group in England with this many records was The Beatles.

Carmelo Anthony and the U.S. men’s Olympic basketball team rewrote the record books Thursday in a 156-73 romp over Nigeria, an epic blowout that answered the Americans’ detractors after two opening routs that provoked criticism of their slow starts and outside shooting.

They led by 26 in the first quarter, had an Olympic-record 78 points in the first half and Anthony scored 37 points, including 10 of 12 three-pointers, to break the U.S. single-game scoring record in less than three quarters.

“Our guys just couldn’t miss,” said coach Mike Krzyzewski.

Incredibly, they eclipsed the 100-point mark with 5 minutes still left in the third.

“When we get hot, it’s a big problem,” Kobe Bryant said. “So you have all these guys on one team and then all get hot on the same night, it’s tough.”

They broke the Olympic record for most points in a game with 4:37 still to play, and set U.S. records for three-pointers (26), field goals (59) and field-goal percentage (71).

When Andre Iguodala hit a three-pointer with 4:37 left, the Americans had surpassed the previous Olympic record of 138 points set by Brazil against Egypt in 1988. When the record was announced to the mesmerized crowd, all the players seated on the U.S. bench got up and walked single file past Krzyzewski, slapping hands with him and his staff.

— The Associated Press