Olympic Weekend Wrap-Up: July 2, 2012

Michael Phelps, already a 16-time Olympic medalist, put himself in position to swim the same eight-event program that he followed in his historic eight-gold medal effort in Beijing in 2008.

Phelps won his fourth event of the meet Sunday at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials, taking the 100-meter butterfly in 51.14 seconds.

Phelps and Tyler McGill had the two fastest times in the world this year. Phelps rallied after a poor start. McGill finished in 51.32. 

Leading up to the Trials, Phelps consistently said he would not try to match his Beijing program, but after his swims in Omaha, it appears he has now changed his mind. 

“It shows that I can do this program at a high level again,” said Phelps, who celebrated his 27th birthday over the weekend. “I think we were struggling over the last few years doing one at this level. “It will be good to get home and start working toward London.”

Phelps is in position to swim in the 100 butterfly, 200 butterfly, 200 individual medley, 400 individual medley, 200 freestyle and all three relays. His status in the 400 freestyle relay is uncertain because Phelps did not compete in the 100-meter freestyle during this week’s Trials. Any swimmer on the Olympic roster can be added to a relay at the head coach’s discretion.

Ryan Lochte finished a noteworthy third in this event in 51.65. Lochte swam an unprecedented triple in the finals of the 200 back, 200 IM and the 100 fly.

Phelps won the second of his three Trials showdowns with Lochte Saturday to take the 200 individual medley. They produced the fastest two times in the world this year with Phelps winning by nine-hundredths of a second.

Missy Franklin won the 200 backstroke (2:06.12) Sunday, giving her two wins in the meet and making her the first American female swimmer in history to qualify for the Olympic Games in seven events. Franklin earlier won the 100 backstroke. Elizabeth Beisel was second in the 200 back (2:07.58). 

“I can’t believe I have seven events,” Franklin said. “It’s so overwhelming and so exciting at the same time. I’m going to focus on the small things now and hopefully be better in London.”

Katie Ledecky, at 15, became the youngest member of the U.S. team by winning the women’s 800 freestyle (8:19.78). She beat Olympian Kate Ziegler, who clocked in at 8:21.87. 

Cullen Jones, a 2008 Olympian, won the men’s 50 freestyle (21.59). Anthony Ervin, meanwhile, the 2000 Olympic champion, qualified for the 2012 Games in the 50 free with a time of 21.60. 

Saturday winners were: Rebecca Soni in the women’s 200 breaststroke, Jessica Hardy in the women’s 100 freestyle.

Friday winners were: Scott Weltz in the men’s 200 breaststroke (2:09.01); Cammile Adams in the women’s 200 butterfly (2:21.13); and Nathan Adrian in the men’s 100 freestyle (48.10). 

Among other qualifiers for the 2012 Games over the weekend are: Micah Lawrence in the 200 breast, Clark Burckle in the 200 breast, Kathleen Hersey in the 200 fly.  

The eight-day event concludes tonight in Omaha with finals in the men’s 1500 freestyle and women’s 50 freestyle.

Dara Torres, 45, qualified third Sunday for the 50-meter freestyle final tonight. She is trying to become the first American swimmer to qualify for six Olympic Games.

The U.S. Olympic Committee must approve all qualifiers to the London 2012 Olympic Games. 

TRACK AND FIELD

The U.S. Olympic Team Trials reached their scheduled conclusion Sunday in Eugene, Ore.

The event is expected to extend until today at 5 p.m. Pacific when Jeneba Tarmoh and Allyson Felix are scheduled to have a runoff for the third and final women’s 100-meter spot on the U.S. Olympic Team. They finished in a dead heat June 23.

Felix won the 200-meter dash Saturday when Tarmoh finished fifth.

A stellar field was no match for Felix as she broke Florence Griffith-Joyner’s 24-year-old meet record with a career-best finish of 21.69. Carmelita Jeter, the 2011 world silver medalist, was second with a career-best 22.11. Sanya Richards-Ross, the Trials 400-meter winner, was third in 22.22 to qualify for her second event for London.

“I was thrilled with my race,” Felix said. “I feel like everything came together. I’m just blessed to make the team.”

Chaunté Lowe won the high jump (6-7) and Brigetta Barrett also qualified for the U.S. team but perhaps the story of the event was that Amy Acuff made her fifth Olympic team with a third-place finish in the high jump. Acuff joins Gail Devers, Carl Lewis, Willye White, Willie Davenport and Jearl Miles-Clark as the only U.S. five-time track and field Olympians. 

Trevor Barren set an American record of 1:23:00.10 in the men’s 20,000 race walk. Tim Seaman lost his record, but finished second to make the Olympic Team along with two athletes he coaches, Barron and Nick Christie.

Women’s field performances highlighted the action Sunday in front of 22,497 at Hayward Field.

Brittany Reese won the long jump in which three women surpassed 23 feet and Brittany Borman improved her personal best in the javelin by more than two feet to win on her 23rd birthday. Reese won with 23-5 ½ to edge Chelsea Hayes and Janay DeLoach.

Wallace Spearmon won the final event, the men’s 200 (19.82). Spearmon is seeking redemption after his performance in Beijing, where he initially claimed the bronze medal but later was disqualified. 

Three of the six qualifiers Friday were collegians.

Colorado’s Emma Coburn and Shalaya Kipp qualified in the steeplechase and Tia Brooks of Oklahoma made it in the shot put.

Elsewhere, the U.S. Paralympic Track and Field Team was named Sunday following Trials in Indianapolis.

Jessica Galli, who earned five medals in the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games, made the team. Four-time Beijing medalist Tatyana McFadden and three-time medalists Amanda McGrory and Jim Bob Bizzell also made the team.

GYMNASTICS

Gabby Douglas and Danell Leyva made sure they were among the selections for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Douglas and Leyva were the all-around winners at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Gymnastics in San Jose, Calif., assuring themselves spots among the five men and five women selected to compete in London.

Douglas, Jordyn Wieber, Alexandra Raisman, McKayla Maroney and Kyla Ross were named to the women’s team. Sarah Finnegan, Anna Li and Elizabeth Price were selected as the replacement athletes.

Leyva, John Orozco, Jake Dalton, Jonathan Horton and Sam Mikulak were named to the men’s team. Chris Brooks, Steven Legendre and Alexander Naddour were selected as the replacement athletes.

All athletes named to the Olympic team are subject to the approval of the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Douglas posted a two-day all-around score of 123.450 to edge Wieber, who finished with 123.350. Raisman was third in the all-around.

“All of this hard work has definitely paid off,” said Douglas, who claimed an automatic berth with the all-around win Sunday. “I just can’t wait to wear those red, white and blue stripes down my back. It felt like a dream come true.”

Leyva and Orozco earned automatic spots by finishing first and second in the all-around and recording three or more top-three finishes in individual event standings. Leyva had a four-day combined score of 368.350 while Orozco had 367.400, well ahead of the rest of the competitors.

“It’s surreal; super unbelievable,” Leyva said. “It’s crazy to say that I just finished my first Olympic Trials. I’m so glad to be here.”

Leyva and Orozco traded the lead throughout the final day until Leyva claimed first with his final effort in the parallel bars.

VOLLEYBALL

The United States women captured their third straight and fifth overall FIVB World Grand Prix title Sunday by defeating host China, 26-24, 25-21, 27-25, in Ningbo.

The United States finished 14-0, including 5-0 in the Final Round. It defeated Cuba, 25-14, 26-24, 25-14, Saturday.

Brazil finished with the silver medal and Turkey the bronze.

“Our team works hard and they play together. It’s a special group,” U.S. coach Hugh McCutcheon said. “As our focus now shifts toward London, we will continue with our plan and we hope to play our best volleyball of 2012 at the Games.”

Megan Hodge was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament and received the Best Scorer award. She had 15 kills and two blocks to lead the win over China.

Danielle Scott-Arruda had seven blocks and seven kills.

Elsewhere, the U.S. men won Pool C by defeating Italy, 26-28, 25-20, 24-26, 25-17, 15-10, Sunday in the final Intercontinental Round match of the FIVB World League.

The United States finished pool play 9-3.

Team captain Clay Stanley had a match-high 23 kills and two blocks.

The United States defeated South Korea, 32-30, 26-24, 25-22, Friday before falling to France, 25-20, 22-25, 23-25, 25-23, 15-13, Saturday.

WRESTLING

Jake Varner and Elena Pirozhkova, who both qualified for the 2012 Olympic Games, were among six individual champions from the United States Saturday at the Canada Cup, an international freestyle tournament in Guelph.

Varner won the men’s 96 kg/211.5-pound title while Pirozhkova won the women’s 63 kg/138.75-pound championship.

“Jake wrestled very well,” U.S. Olympic freestyle coach Mark Manning said. “His conditioning was good and he worked his offense very well. It was a great tune-up for him to get some matches prior to the Olympics.”

Pirozhkova came back to win the final two periods after losing the first period of the final to Justine Bouchard of Canada.

Frank Perrelli (men’s 55 kg/121 pounds), Duke Pickett (men’s 74 kg/163 pounds), Les Sigman (men’s 120 kg/264.5 pounds), and Alyssa Lampe (women’s 48 kg/105.5 pounds) were the other champions.

Two other U.S. Olympic Team qualifiers competed. Clarissa Chun, who competed four years ago in Beijing, was fifth among the women at 48 kg/105.5 pounds. Jared Frayer wrestled twice then withdrew, as planned, from the men’s 66 kg/145.5-pound class.

Tony Nelson (men’s 120 kg/264.5 pounds) and Adeline Gray (women’s 72 kg/158.5 pounds) earned silver medals.

SOCCER

Amy Rodriguez scored in the 85th minute Saturday to lead the U.S. women to a 2-1 victory over Canada in their final tune-up for the Olympic Games before 16,805 fans in Sandy, Utah.

The United States will head to London on a five-match winning streak. The team will travel to England July 10 to begin preparations for its first match of the Olympics July 25 against France. The women’s soccer tournament starts two days before the Opening Ceremonies.

Rodriguez got to a loose ball in the penalty area to score the deciding goal of a physical match.

“I think the first half was good,” U.S. coach Pia Sundhage said. “It was exactly what we expected and worked on. The game plan worked.

“The second half was a little shaky, we made four changes and it’s hard for players to adjust right away. Despite that, if you look at the last 15 minutes, when we changed to 3-4-3 and really wanted to get that goal, I am really proud of our players.”

The United States led 19-4 in shots and 8-0 in corner kicks, but Canada forced a tie 12 minutes into the second half.

The only goal of the first half was an own goal to put the United States ahead.

The United States is unbeaten in the last 26 matches with Canada.

The U.S. team had a bit of a fearful moment when star striker Alex Morgan injured her knee in the 50th minute and was taken out of the game. US Soccer reported that Morgan was taken out for precautionary measures and Morgan tweeted that the injury was “just a scare”.

TENNIS

Olympian Serena Williams was one of just three Americans to make it in singles action to the second week of Wimbledon tennis.

Williams set a Wimbledon record with 23 aces Saturday in a 6-7, 6-2, 9-7 win over Zheng Jie of China to reach the round of 16.

Mardy Fish and Brian Baker are alive in the men’s draw although Olympian and three-time Wimbledon finalist Andy Roddick was eliminated.

Americans are still playing in doubles, with the teams of Scott Lipsky and Rajeev Ram and the 2008 Olympic bronze medalists Mike and Bob Bryan. On the women’s side are the American teams of Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond, Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears and Venus and Serena Williams, who are seeking a third consecutive gold medal in Olympic women’s doubles. 

Wimbledon’s All England Club will be the site of Olympic tennis.

SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMING

The U.S. Olympic synchronized swimming duet of Mary Killman and Mariya Koroleva won gold at the Swiss Open in Geneva, Switzerland Sunday in its final competition before heading to London.

Elsewhere, the Cincinnati YMCA Synchrogators won the 18-19 team title when the eSynchro Age Group National Championships concluded Sunday in Oxford, Ohio.

ARCHERY

Olympian Brady Ellison showed why he is ranked No. 1 in the world, winning another archery national championship in the recurve division Friday before the 128th National Target Championships were disrupted by severe weather in Hamilton, Ohio.

Khatuna Long, who is preparing for her fifth Olympic appearance, won the women’s recurve.

Reo Wilde and Erika Anschutz won compound titles.