LONDON – Michael Phelps has made Olympic history, winning his 15th gold medal. It came as the American team won the 4×200-metre freestyle relay. It was his 19th Olympic medal overall.
Earlier in the day, Britain’s royal rider could not keep Germany from winning its second consecutive Olympic gold medal in equestrian team eventing Tuesday, while Michael Phelps took the opportunity to show he still has the winning touch.
Princes William and Harry, and William’s wife Kate were among those cheering Queen Elizabeth II’s granddaughter, Zara Phillips, as she competed in the show jumping course that is the third and final part of equestrian eventing.
Phillips knocked down a rail, as did teammate Nicola Wilson, ending hopes of gold. Britain won the silver and New Zealand the bronze.
“Unfortunately we couldn’t quite do it,” the first-time Olympian said. “We can’t be disappointed with a silver medal because it’s an amazing thing to be here.”
Germany also took the gold and bronze in individual equestrian eventing later Tuesday, while Sweden won silver.
China earned its third straight Olympic gold diving medal as Chen Ruolin and Wang Hao dominated women’s synchronized 10-meter, ahead of Mexico and Canada.
There was some relief for British Olympic diver Tom Daley when police arrested a teenager on suspicion of posting malicious Twitter messages directed at him.
The man is accused of sending the diver a tweet after he finished fourth in an event Monday, in which he wrote: “You let your dad down i hope you know that.”
Daley’s father died of brain cancer a year ago, and the 18-year-old Olympian had hoped to win a medal “for myself and my dad.”
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Police said the suspect was co-operating with investigators.
In tennis, Serena Williams was not selected to play in mixed doubles, while her sister Venus moved into the third round after beating Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada 6-1, 6-3.
Williams must play every day to reach the final Saturday, and the question is whether she can keep it up as she fights an autoimmune disease that causes fatigue. She also is playing doubles with her sister, Serena.
Serena Williams had also wanted to play mixed doubles. But U.S. coach Mary Joe Fernandez said Tuesday that it would have stretched her too thin.
“It’s a lot of matches in a short amount of time,” Fernandez said. “You don’t want to jeopardize the other events.”
In highly anticipated swimming events, Phelps tried to become the first male swimmer to win the same individual event in three straight Olympics on Tuesday night – first in the 200-metre butterfly, his signature race, and later a relay.
He fell short in the 200-metre butterfly, finishing second to Chad le Clos of South Africa, by five one-hundredths of a second.
Later, the Americans struck gold in the 4×200 relay, giving Phelps his record-breaking 15th gold medal and 19th medal overall.
In morning swimming, Nathan Adrian of the U.S. qualified fastest in the 100-meter freestyle preliminaries. Gideon Louw of South Africa was second quickest in 48.29, followed by Sebastiaan Verschuren of the Netherlands in 48.37.
In the women’s 200 butterfly heats, American Kathleen Hersey led the way in 2:06.41. World champion Jiao Liuyang of China, the 2008 silver medallist , was second quickest and Jemma Lowe of Britain qualified third.
There was good news for the host country as British rower Alan Campbell qualified fastest for the semifinals of the men’s single sculls. Reigning two-time champion Olaf Tufte of Norway also squeezed into the semifinals by placing third in the last quarterfinal.
Britain is favoured to win three women’s rowing events and has gold medal chances in several men’s disciplines when finals begin Wednesday.
A rower from Niger with barely any training, who endeared himself to the crowds two days ago when he crawled over the finish line well after other competitors as spectators and even the announcer egged him on, was back on the water Tuesday.
Again, he came in last.
Hamadou Djibo Issaka – or, the “Sculling Sloth” as he is now known – was even slower this time, clocking 9 minutes, 7.99 seconds over 2,000 metres – 28 seconds slower than his repechage time.
The French added to their medals when Tony Estanguet won gold in the men’s canoe slalom, regaining the Olympic title he won in 2000 and 2004.Sideris Tasiadis of Germany took the silver and defending champion Michal Martikan of Slovakia won bronze.
In Olympic men’s basketball, Russia beat China 73-54 in its second victory in two games, while Montenegro dealt water polo powerhouse Hungary its second consecutive loss of the London Games, beating the three-time defending Olympic champion 11-10.
There was good news for one of Saudi Arabia’s two first female Olympians, when the IOC said officials reached an agreement to let judo athlete Wojdan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shahrkhani compete Friday in the women’s heavyweight division.
Saudi sent its two women athletes to the London Games on condition they adhere to the kingdom’s conservative Islamic traditions, including wearing a headscarf. But Judo officials had initially said a headscarf could be dangerous because the sport includes chokeholds and aggressive grabbing techniques.
– With files from Global News
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