2012 Olympics Swimming: Results From Day 1 In The Pool

The swimming events at the 2012 Olympics got off to a surprising start on Saturday, as Ryan Lochte won the 400m Individual medley for the U.S., while Michael Phelps finished in fourth place, failing to medal. Considering this is the year Phelps was expected to extend his all-time medals lead, this Summer Games has gotten off to an inauspicious start for him.

With four medal events in the books heading into Sunday, the United States has already picked up a gold, a silver and two bronze finishes. It will be another full day of swimming events on Sunday, including plenty of heats and four more medal finals.

China’s Shiwen Ye, just 16-years old, won gold in the Women’s 400m IM finals Saturday at the 2012 Summer Olympics. American Elizabeth Beisel won the silver medal.

Ye finished in a time of 4:28.43, setting a new world record in the process, and touching the wall almost a full three seconds ahead of Beisel (4:31.27). China’s Xuanxu Li took home the bronze medal (4:32.91).

The longest of the pure sprint events in men’s swimming was the undercard on Saturday at the 2012 Olympics, and a Chinese swimmer scored a big upset in it, with 20-year-old Sun Yang winning gold in the men’s 400m freestyle.

Sun took the event in a brisk 3:40.14, establishing a new Olympic record, and earning his first gold at an international competition in the event after silver medals in the event at the 2011 World Championships and 2010 Asian Games. South Korea’s Park Tae-hwan, who beat Sun in both of those events, finished second in the final after needing to overturn a disqualification to get there, turning in a time of 3:42.06.

Even casual Olympics fans recognized Saturday’s duel between Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte in the men’s 400m IM as one of the 2012 Olympics’ signature events. And NBC holding the live broadcast of the race off television until primetime made some sense.

But NBC also made some fans using its live stream online and via an app fairly upset, too.

Ryan Lochte dominated the field and won the gold medal in the Men’s 400m IM finals on Saturday, challenging the world record for much of the swim. Michael Phelps finished a disappointing, and surprising, fourth place.

Lochte finished in a time of 4:05.18, more than three seconds ahead of the silver medal winner, Brazil’s Thiago Pereira. Japan’s Kosuke Hagino took home the bronze.

Despite swimming in the preliminaries and helping the U.S. 4x100-meter freestyle relay team qualify for the gold medal round, 11-time Olympic medalist Natalie Coughlin has been dropped from the group, along with Amanda Weir, replacing the pair with Jessica Hardy and teenager Missy Franklin for the finals.

If the U.S. team makes the podium, Coughlin will be up there with them to collect her 12th medal, since she swam in the preliminaries. The 12 medals would tie Coughlin with Dara Torres and Jenny Thompson as the most of any female Olympian.

The highlight on Day 1 of the 2012 Summer Olympics, and indeed one of must-see events of the entire Games, is the men’s 400m IM finals, the first of two (expected) duels between Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps. The event is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. London time, which is 2:30 p.m. ET, but if you’re looking to actually see this must-see showdown, don’t look on your TV. At least, not if you want to watch it live.

NBC is tape-delaying much of the swimming, including the 400m IM finals, for primetime Saturday night, beginning at 8 p.m. ET (West Coast, expect to get it some time next week). But all is not lost!

With the start of the 2012 Summer Olympics on Saturday, the highlight of the day should be the day of swimming. While swimming kicks off with the Men’s 400m IM qualification, there will also be four medaling events on the day.

The four events where a medal will be rewarded include the Men’s 400m IM, Men’s 400m freestyle, Women’s 400m IM, and the Women’s 4x100m Freestyle.