With three events left, Missy Franklin has an opportunity to tie the women’s record held by Natalie Coughlin of six medals in one Olympiad. Wednesday marked the first time Team USA took home gold in a relay since 2004, when Franklin’s strong opening leg in the 4 X 200 final sparked the Americans to the gold medal and Frankin’s second gold of the Games
“I know after everything’s over, this whole team is going to have a huge celebration and we’re all going to be so happy for each other,” Franklin said. “That’s when we can all sit back and appreciate everything we’ve accomplished as a team.”
With two gold and one bronze with three events left, many have hailed the soon-to-be senior at Regis Jesuit High School in Colorado as the female Michael Phelps.
Franklin isn’t getting that far ahead of herself.
“It’s the most important part: just living in the now,” Franklin said during the team’s post-race news conference. “I still have so many more races. It’s awesome to swim the race, do my best, be happy and proud of how I did and move onto the next one.”
On Thursday Franklin will swim preliminary and semifinal heats of her specialty, the 200 backstroke, before competing in the 100-meter freestyle final. She must beat the Netherlands’ Ranomi Kromowidjojo who holds the top time in the world.
Men’s Swimming: Gyurta Upsets Jamieson, Breaks WR
He needed world record time to do it, but Daniel Gyurta of Hungary managed to shock home-country favorite Michael Jamieson and claim gold in the 200-meter breaststroke.
Heading into the race all eyes were on two-time defending Olympic champion Kosuke Kitajima, but his chances at a three-peat ended when he began to fade on the third leg of the race and Gyurta took control.
As Gyurta headed into the home stretch Jamieson, positioned in the lane to the right of Gyurta, began to make a late surge. A raucous crowd stood to its feet as the two raced to the finish, with Gyurta touching the wall first with at time of 2 minutes, 7.28 seconds.
Gyurta’s time took 0.03 off the previous record set by Christian Sprenger of Australia in a now-banned bodysuit during the 2009 world championships.
Woman Rout Turkey, 89-58
After cruising to another lopsided victory 89-58 over Turkey on Wednesday, the USA women’s basketball team was given the day off for the first time since their first practice on July 14th.
“I want to make sure these guys had some time to themselves, it’s going to help us a lot.”
That’s probably the last thing the competition would like to hear, as the US have won its first three games by an average of 39 points. The Turks were suppose to give the Americans their toughest test so far in the Olympics, but the most the US ever trailed by was 1 point in the first quarter.
Turkey’s lead would quickly be erased, as the Atlanta Dream’s Angel McCoughtry helped Team USA build a 15-point lead by halftime. MaCoughtry scored a game high 18 points for the US while Tina Charles added 16.