LONDON – Michael Phelps spent the day thinking about the things he’s doing for the final time at the pool. It turns out it included a last win over Ryan Lochte.
Adding to an already unprecedented medal collection, Phelps claimed his first individual victory of the London Games and handed Lochte a double disappointment on his rival’s final night Thursday.
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Phelps set the tone from the start with a dominating butterfly leg in the 200-meter individual medley to become the first male swimmer to win the same individual event at three straight Olympics. 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, ahead of Lochte.
“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 races in the evening. “We’re kind of chalking up all the lasts of certain things.”
A farewell games that started as a bit of a disappointment is looking up. Phelps has won two golds and two silvers in five races — not the eight golds in China, but a more-than-fitting capper to a brilliant career that still has two more races: the 100 butterfly Friday and the 400 medley relay Saturday.
Lochte settled for silver in 1:54.90, having split with Phelps in their two head-to-head races. Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh took the bronze in 1:56.22.
“Ryan and I have had a lot of great races,” Phelps said. “He has brought the best out of me many times.”
Lochte also faded to bronze in the 200 backstroke behind fellow American Tyler Clary.
Clary rallied on the final lap to pull off the upset in an Olympic-record 1:53.41. Japan’s Ryosuke Irie also got by Lochte on the final stroke, finishing second in 1:53.78. Lochte’s time was 1:53.94.
Rebecca Soni also made a splash, setting her second world record in as many days to defend her Olympic title in the 200 breaststroke. She finished in 2:19.59, breaking her own mark of 2:20.00 set in the semifinals.
“I’m so happy,” Soni said. “I can’t believe I did it.”
MEN’S BASKETBALL: The U.S. put together a dominant performance in a 156-73 win against Nigeria.
Carmelo Anthony scored 37 points to set the American Olympic mark for points in a game — in less than three quarters. He made 10 of 12 3-point attempts.
The U.S. also broke the Olympic record for points in a game and points in a half (78). The Americans bettered U.S. records for 3-pointers (26), field goals (59) and field-goal percentage (71).
WOMEN’S GYMNASTICS: Gabby Douglas became the third straight American to win the all-around, finishing with a score of 62.232, about three-tenths ahead of Viktoria Komova of Russia.
It’s her second gold medal, coming two nights after she and her teammates gave the United States its first Olympic team title since 1996.
JUDO: Kayla Harrison defeated Britain’s Gemma Gibbons to win the United States’ first judo gold medal in Olympic history, taking the 78-kilogram title.
The 22-year-old Middletown, Ohio, native who lives in suburban Boston went to the medal podium determined not to cry. After one note of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” she succumbed.
“I’m just so honored to be America’s first gold medalist, and so happy to realize my dream,” she said.
TENNIS: Roger 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 Friday 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 advanced on the men’s side and next plays Britain’s Andy Murray.
MEN’S VOLLEYBALL: Clay Stanley scored 19 points and the U.S. 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.
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 a team from the Czech Republic.
Americans Jennifer Kessy and April Ross finished 3-0 with a 21-19, 19-21, 19-17 victory over a team from Spain. Kerri Walsh Jennings and Misty May-Treanor finished pool play Wednesday, as did Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal.
WATER POLO: Tony Azevedo scored four goals and the U.S. men beat Britain 13-7 to remain undefeated.
The Americans are on top of Group B with six points, one ahead of gold-medal favorite Serbia with two preliminary matches to go. The Serbs face the U.S. on Saturday.
BOXING: 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.
FIELD HOCKEY: One day after upsetting Argentina, the U.S. women lost 1-0 to Australia.
CYCLING: Germany’s Miriam Welte and Kristina Vogel won the women’s sprint team event after a Chinese duo was disqualified for a lane change in the final.
Britain broke its own world record set earlier in the day to win its second straight gold medal in the men’s team sprint.
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