U.S. Swimming Victories and Britain's First Gold Medals in Shadow of Badminton Scandal
Aug. 1, 2012— -- It was a triumphant day in the pool for Team USA.
Missy Franklin, the high school senior who won a gold medal Monday, swam to a second gold in the 4x200-meter freestyle, and Rebecca Soni broke the world record for the 200-meter breastroke with a time of 2 minutes, 20 seconds in the semifinals.
Adding to the United States' winning streak at London's Aquatics Centre, Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte will face off in the final of the men's 200-meter individual medley, after Lochte finished first and Phelps second in Wednesday's semifinal.
U.S. swimmers Cammile Adams and Kathleen Hersey failed to medal in the women's 200-meter butterfly final. Hersey finished fourth and Adams fifth, while the Chinese Jiao Liuyang took gold.
On a day that began with a scandal over thrown badminton games, Britain collected its first two gold medals of the 2012 Olympics with wins in rowing and cycling.
On Dorney Lake, rowers Heather Stanning and Helen Glover dominated the women's coxless pairs for the host's first gold medal. Stanning and Glover quickly opened a wide lead that never closed as New Zealand took silver and Australia took bronze.
The pair were the first women rowers ever to win a gold medal for Britain.
The British were expecting cyclist Mark Cavendish to deliver the host country a medal on the first day, but a Kazakhstani cyclist beat him to an upset victory.
British cyclist and Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins, though, did not disappoint in the men's time trial, cruising to victory for his country's second gold medal. He is now Britain's most decorated Olympian.
Earlier in the day, U.S. cyclist Kristin Armstrong won her second gold medal in the women's time trial.
The women's badminton scandal cast a shadow on the rest of the day's events.
After Chinese players were noticed deliberately losing a preliminary match to earn a favorable seed in the competition's next round, six of their South Korean and Indonesian counterparts followed suit, leading to the disqualification of eight players. The badminton federation rejected the appeals of the South Korean players, and the Indonesian players quickly dropped their appeals.
In tennis, Novak Djokovic handily beat Australian Lleyton Hewitt, while Venus Williams fell to German Angelique Kerber.
U.S. beach volleyball stars Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor are set to take to the sand at 6 p.m. ET against Austria.
