Michael Phelps, the first of his kind

LONDON -- You can't write history. It doesn't come neatly packaged, wrapped up with a pretty bow. If Michael Phelps had been able to write the script here Tuesday night, of course he would have won his signature event, the 200-meter butterfly. Didn't happen. He got caught between strokes at the very end, and he took silver. What a way to win his 18th career Olympic medal, tying him with Russian gymnast Larysa Latinina, who won her medals in the 1950s and 1960s.

An hour or so later, when the U.S. 4x200 relay team won, with Phelps swimming the anchor leg, he suddenly had 19, most ever.

And after four finals here at the 2012 London Games, Michael Phelps finally had his first gold medal of these Olympics.

Read the rest at NBCOlympics.com: http://bit.ly/MQGDWP

Long-time coach Bowman instrumental in Phelps' run to Olympic history

LONDON -- For 16 years, Bob Bowman and Michael Phelps have been together, swimmer and coach. Think of how many years the typical football coach lasts in one job.

Now consider what Bowman and Phelps have done together. This is their fourth Summer Games. Phelps, with 19 Olympic medals, is now the most decorated athlete in Olympic history.

In his extraordinary career, Phelps has never volunteered a word about medal counts. For him, it has always been about trying to change the sport of swimming. From the outset, Bowman understood. The journey has been, in every regard, a joint quest.

Read the rest at NBCOlympics.com: http://bit.ly/OAfwv7

Missy Franklin living up to the hype in Olympic debut

LONDON -- Missy Franklin can swim. No one ever had any doubt about that. She had announced herself on the international stage last summer at the world championships in Shanghai, when she won five medals, three of them gold. Missy Franklin has personality the force of several suns. She is happy, it seems, all the time. The older members of the U.S. national team marvel at her energy. Plus, and you can check this out for yourself in the swim team's "Call Me Maybe" take-off video, she can dance.

Coming into these London Games, the only question about Missy Franklin, the 17-year-old from Colorado, was whether the hype machine would eat her up and spit her out, or whether she would find the peace of mind, the serenity, the calm to do what she came her to do.

To win.

Read the rest at NBCOlympics.com: http://bit.ly/OEMDjw

Phelps falls behind Clary, gearing up for repeat gold

LONDON -- Three weeks ago, Tyler Clary told his hometown newspaper in Riverside, Calif., that Michael Phelps had been skating along on talent alone and was pretty much asking to get beaten. Clary also said it would be "complete satisfaction" when it would be he, Clary, doing the beating.

Hey, now.

Mr. Clary -- if indeed you do the beating in the 200-meter Olympic butterfly final, you will have earned every bit of that trash-talking.

If not, you'll always have that preliminary swim Monday morning, when you finished ahead of Phelps by 74-hundredths of a second, a couple lanes away. The two head into Monday night's semifinal seeded second and fifth, respectively.

Read the rest at NBCOlympics.com: http://bit.ly/Oxs9XM

For French relay, revenge is so délicieux

LONDON -- One of the enduring images of the 2008 Beijing Olympics is the primal scream that Michael Phelps uttered on the pool deck when Jason Lezak, seemingly seized by an out-of-body experience, delivered a swim for the ages. In overtaking France's Alain Bernard, Lezak -- who swam 100 meters in 46.06 seconds -- secured relay gold for the United States and, not so incidentally, kept alive Phelps' historic chase for eight gold medals.

That day in Beijing, Phelps threw his arms up toward the sky as if he were signaling a touchdown by his favorite team, the Baltimore Ravens. Garrett Weber-Gale, who had raced the second leg of that relay, grabbed Phelps from behind as if he were about to body-slam him to the deck, or punch him, or something. The French, just over to the side, looked on in stunned silence.

Revenge, you know, is so délicieux.

Read the rest at NBCOlympics.com: http://bit.ly/NPDAuR

The Curse of Being Gymnastics World Champion

LONDON -- A few hours before qualifications began Sunday in the women's gymnastics event at the London 2012 Olympics, John Geddert, the U.S. coach and Jordyn Wieber's personal coach, sent out a photo on Twitter for everyone and anyone to see. It was his Jordyn's competition number, 415, randomly assigned. John sent a note with the photo, too. He wrote, "415 is the lucky number this week... Try your luck with the local lottery."

Better yet -- don't. "415" is still just the area code for San Francisco.

The Curse of Being World Champion struck yet again.

Read the rest at NBCOlympics.com: http://bit.ly/MV1JS2

U.S. faces challenges in repeating Beijing gold in 4x100 free

LONDON - Not including the U.S.-boycotted 1980 Moscow Games, the American men's 4x100 relay team has won a medal in the event at every Olympics since the event debuted in 1964. There were seven straight golds, then a silver in 2000, a bronze in 2004 and then, thanks to Jason Lezak, maybe the best-ever gold in Beijing in 2008. The U.S. men face the most direct of challenges in 2012.

Not just to win.

But -- to medal.

Read the rest at NBCOlympics.com: http://bit.ly/P6wDTL

With loss, Phelps no longer seems invincible

The safe prediction all along was that Ryan Lochte would not only win the 400-meter individual medley Saturday, but dominate, and he did. He won by more than three seconds, claiming not just the first gold medal in swimming but the first gold for the entire U.S. team at these London 2012 Games. But that showdown with Michael Phelps?

It takes two for a showdown, and Phelps -- this sentence seems almost improbable -- not only didn't bring his "A" game, he didn't even win a medal. He finished fourth.

Read the rest at NBCOlympics.com: http://bit.ly/PcpNvA

'It's on. Let's Go.' The Games have begun

LONDON -- Inside the stadium, everyone sang along to "Hey, Jude" with Sir Paul McCartney. Over the city, fireworks boomed out over the Tower Bridge. Around the world, two of every three people watched on television Friday night as the XXX Olympiad got underway, its history to be written over the next 16 days. The rain mostly held off -- was that an omen portending good for these Games? -- in what has been one of the rainiest summers in British history, London playing host to the Olympics for the third time. It staged the Games in 1908 and again in 1948.

Seven young British torchbearers lit the cauldron -- a tiny flame within a copper petal on the ground that triggered the ignition of more than 200 petals and then converged to form a single "flame of unity." The cauldron is due to be moved to a different place into the stadium during the Games, then disassembled at the close of the Olympics -- meant to evoke a flower that blooms only for a while.

The party-vibe contrast with China, and 2008 -- which opened with the awe-inspiring sound of 2,008 drums, unmistakably signaling the portent of history -- could not have been more dramatic.

Read the rest at NBCOlympics.com: http://bit.ly/OsFKzA

London 2012 programming note

As the London 2012 Summer Games get set to open, this programming note for the 17 days of the Summer Games here at 3 Wire Sports: I will be privileged to reprise my role during the Games as the chief columnist at NBCOlympics.com, a post I held during the 2008 Beijing and 2010 Vancouver Olympics. I have had an association with NBC since 2003 and am glad to continue it.

You'll see here a few paragraphs from my latest column and then links to the rest of that particular story at NBCOlympics.com. Please feel free to start reading here -- all links here still matter, believe me -- and then please do continue reading at NBCOlympics.com.

The Games end Aug. 12. When they're over, I'll be back to this space. You'll also be able then to find my columns, as before, at TeamUSA.org, the U.S. Olympic Committee site.

In related news, I was named to the Sports Illustrated list of "Fifty Twitter feeds you need to follow during the London Olympics." You can see the full list at http://bit.ly/M98wEC.

I was also named to the Sports Business Daily list of Twitter feeds to follow during the London Olympics. See that list at http://bit.ly/LKTxPP.

Here is how this will work during the London 2012 Games for NBCOlympics.com -- and, as always, check back often:

--

http://bit.ly/MOVizQ

Party in London: Let the Games begin

LONDON -- The 2004 Summer Games in Athens marked a return to the roots.

The 2008 Olympics in Beijing took the Games to the world's most populous nation.

Enough already with the solemnity and the weight of history.

These 2012 Summer Olympics -- they're supposed to be a party.