Olympic Swimming: Team USA Adds 2 More Gold Medals On Day 5

Wednesday at the Summer Olympics brought with it one of the most exciting swimming races yet at the Aquatics Center. American Nathan Adrian won the men’s 100m freestyle in the narrowest of margins, edging the favorite, Australia’s James “The Missile” Magnussen, by just 0.01 seconds. And watching all the drama were Adrian’s teammates, Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps. Fortunately, there was a camera there to capture their immediate reactions.

Both were in the ready room, awaiting their semifinal swim in the 200m IM, and both were so pumped, bro.

Liuyang Jiao of China never held the lead until the final 50 meters of the women’s 200-meter butterfly final Wednesday, but a dominant final leg gave her an Olympic record and gold medal. Jiao was nearly a full second behind silver medalist Mireia Belmonte Garcia around the final turn, but finished with a time of 2:04.06, 1.19 seconds ahead of the Spaniard at the wall. Japan’s Natsumi Hoshi took Bronze.

Belmonte Garcia led around the second and third turns, but simply didn’t have enough gas for the final leg. Hoshi nearly caught her, finishing just .23 seconds out of silver. Jiao won the race after finishing second at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Australia’s James Magnussen was the favorite heading into the men’s 100m freestyle and Yannick Agnel of France had looked like the best sprinter of the 2012 Olympics. But the American, Nathan Adrian, staged a massive upset by one of the slimmest margins in Olympic history to win gold.

Adrian beat Magnussen at the wall by a mere .01 seconds, 47.52 to 47.53, and won America’s first gold medal in the event since 1988.

Hungary’s Daniel Gyurta had looked like the strongest man in the qualifying for the men’s 200m breaststroke at the 2012 Olympics. He proved he was just that on Wednesday in the final, breaking the world record in the event and winning Hungary’s second gold medal of the Olympics.

Kosuku Kitajima broke for the lead in the first 50 meters, and was ahead of world record pace at that point and at the 100-meter mark. But Gyurta had closed by that point, and the Hungarian took the lead by the middle of the third 50 meters. Gyurta closed strongly, but with Great Britain’s Michael Jamison’s on his tail, and the strong finishes from both men made the race a classic.

The 2012 Olympic Games in London roll right along into Wednesday, where they have plenty more swimming events on the docket. There will be four more gold medal competitions taking place on Wednesday, beginning in the afternoon. Of course, the telecast of those events won’t air until prime time on NBC wherever you may be located, so if you want to cheer on the U.S. swimmers, you will need to use your computer to stream the finals.

If you want to watch the swimming live, NBC LIve Extra has got you covered. Here are the four gold medal events taking place on Wednesday. All times are Eastern.

The 2012 Summer Olympics continue on Wednesday afternoon with plenty of swimming events, including four medaling events. A handful of Americans will compete on the day for gold, as Scott Weltz and Clark Burckle compete in the men’s 200m breaststroke, while Nathan Adrian will compete for the men’s 100m freestyle.

On the women’s side of things, Cammile Adams and Kathleen Hersey will go for gold in the women’s 200m butterfly, while the United States will compete in the Women’s 4x200m freestyle relay.