London Catch-Up, Day 7: Michael Phelps captures final individual gold
1. Michael Phelps' mom says her son's life as an ex-pro athlete will include more golf and perhaps a return to the University of Michigan, but before the most decorated Olympian in history could think about retirement, he had a couple more races to swim. In the last individual swim of his career, Phelps fittingly captured gold Friday, rallying to win the 100-meter butterfly for the third straight Olympics. His previous two victories were photo finishes, but this time he won by a larger margin, edging South African Chad le Clos and Russian Evgeny Korotyshkin by 0.23 seconds.
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2. If Phelps' victory was a joyous moment for USA Swimming, it certainly wasn't the only one on Friday night. Missy Franklin claimed her third gold medal of the Olympics and set a world record in the process, blitzing the field in the 200-meter backstroke to win by nearly two full seconds. Not to be outdone, 15-year-old Katie
Ledecky, the youngest member of the U.S. Olympic team, led wire-to-wire in the 800-meter freestyle on Friday, upsetting Great Britain's Rebecca Adlington to capture her first gold medal.
3. If the heats in the women's 100 meters are any indication, sprinting records may fall in track and field next week in spite of any inclement weather. World champion Carmelita Jeter led seven women who went under 11 seconds in the 100-meter heats on Friday night, six more than achieved that entering the semifinals in Beijing in 2008. What's more, race favorite Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce was not among those under 11 seconds. She coasted most of her heat and cruised in at 11 seconds flat.
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4. Americans Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers will not repeat as men's beach volleyball champions at the Olympics. The defending gold medalists were ousted in the Round of 16 on Friday in two sets by Italians Daniele Lupo and Paolo Nicolai. Dalhausser and Rogers rallied from a 12-7 second-set deficit to pull even at 19 apiece, but they lost the next two points to end the match.
5. The U.S. women's soccer team's habit of planned celebrations after goals did not sit well with its opponents on Friday. Two days after nine players joined hands and did the "worm" in a win over North Korea, the U.S. followed that up by doing cartwheels after the opening goal in a 2-0 quarterfinal victory over New Zealand. "When teams concede [a goal], they're disappointed, and they want to get on with the game," New Zealand coach Tony Readings said. "We wouldn't do it, but it's obviously something that the Americans do. We've seen them do it a few times in this tournament."
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It took 4 hours, 26 minutes, but Roger Federer will play for a gold medal. The world's No. 1-ranked player defeated Argentina's Juan Martin Del Potro 3-6, 7-6 (5), 19-17 in the longest three-set match of the Open era, setting up a gold-medal showdown against Andy Murray in a rematch of last month's Wimbledon final. Federer held serve 12 times to stay in the match in the final set. (Getty Images)
"I was absolutely dreading they were going to come and show myself and my wife. That would have been very embarrassing." — Prince William on his fear of the "Kiss Cam" that entertained the crowd at the velodrome during a track cycling event he and his wife attended this week. (Reuters)
Friday's Gold Medal Moments for Team USA: Michael Phelps, 100 butterfly; Missy Franklin 200 backstroke; Katie Ledecky, 800 freestyle
U.S. Olympians with best chance at gold on Saturday: Men's 4x100 medley relay, Women's 4x100 medley relay; Serena Williams (Women's tennis singles); Carmelita Jeter (Women's 100 meters)
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