Phelps, Lochte set up showdown in Olympic 200 IM

Having gotten by the rest of the world in winning five Olympic gold medals so far, Phelps next faces a serious challenge from Ryan Lochte in the 200-meter individual medley.

Phelps ended another golden day at the pool by winning his preliminary heat in 1 minute, 58.65 seconds Wednesday night, making him sixth overall.

“I’m just trying to get through everything,” he said. “It’s a lot of racing and it’s not easy.”

Swimming one heat earlier, Lochte finished with the fastest time of 1:58.15. Laszlo Cseh of Hungary, already a two-time silver medalist behind Phelps in the 400 IM and 200 butterfly, was third overall in 1:58.79. The semifinals are Thursday morning, followed by Friday’s final.

“Michael is a really good swimmer, a big talent and he can beat everyone,” Cseh said.

Lochte thinks otherwise. He’s one of the few who isn’t intimidated by Phelps, even though he’s regularly cast as Mr. Runner-up in their ongoing rivalry.

“I was that close at trials,” Lochte said. “It’s no different. It’s just another swim meet. It’s just another race I’m going to have.”

In the opening event of these games, Phelps won the 400 IM and Lochte finished third while bothered by a stomach virus.

“I feel a lot better,” he said. “I feel like I got my strength back.”

Earlier in the day, Phelps claimed two more gold medals, making him 5-for-5, with world records each time. Overall, his 11 career gold medals stamped him as the winningest Olympian in history. He’s also trying to take down Mark Spitz’s record of seven golds in a single games.

“If he gets eight medals, it’s amazing,” Lochte said. “If he doesn’t, it means somewhere along I did something. Hopefully, I can do that.”

Phelps won the 200 butterfly in the morning despite being blinded when his goggles filled with water.

“I just got a new pair,” he said. “Today I’m trying to put behind me and get ready for tomorrow. Those next three ones are pretty important events.”

Lochte pulled double-duty Wednesday night, qualifying for his two biggest individual races in Beijing.

Before the 200 IM prelims, he and Aaron Peirsol set up a rematch in the 200 backstroke, with the teammates qualifying 1-2 for the event in which they share the world record.

Lochte’s time of 1:56.29 was just 0.06 seconds ahead of Peirsol, who clocked 1:56.35 in the previous preliminary heat.

Markus Rogan of Austria, the silver medalist behind Peirsol four years ago in Athens, was third-quickest in 1:56.64.

Lochte ended Peirsol’s seven-year winning streak in the 200 back at last year’s world championships in Australia, where he also took away Peirsol’s world record. Rogan was third.

“I stopped holding that grudge a long time ago,” Peirsol said. “At that time I felt like I kind of owned that event. Now I realize all those records are just on loan.”

They resumed their rivalry at the U.S. trials in July and were stroke for stroke the entire race. But Peirsol lunged to the wall just ahead of Lochte, tying the mark set by Lochte in Australia.

Their shared world mark of 1:54.32 could be in jeopardy in Friday morning’s final. Peirsol, the 100 back champion in Beijing, will try to complete a sweep of the backstroke events for the second consecutive Olympics.

“It was wonderful enough to do it in the 100,” he said. “If I could do it in the 200, it would be a dream come true. But if I can’t, it will in no way be a blemish on my career.”

In the women’s 200 breaststroke, defending Olympic champion Amanda Beard failed to get out of the prelims. The former Playboy cover girl’s time of 2:27.70 was a whopping 2.57 seconds off the time she swam to finish second at the U.S. trials last month and left her 18th.

Adding to her indignity, her Olympic record set four years ago was erased by teammate Rebecca Soni, who led all qualifiers in 2:22.17, more than a full second better than Beard’s mark of 2:23.37.

“I didn’t even know I had broken an Olympic record,” Soni said. “It reminded me that I am in the right place and not to stress.”

Beard and Soni had trained together at the University of Southern California before Beard left a couple weeks ahead of the U.S. trials because of what her former coach called a contentious atmosphere.

An angry Beard strode quickly past reporters without a word.

Aussie Leisel Jones was second-fastest in 2:23.81; Mirna Jukic of Austria was third in 2:24.39. Jones, Soni and Jukic were the gold, silver and bronze medalists in the 100 breast on Tuesday.

Hanna-Maria Seppala of Finland qualified fastest in the women’s 100 free preliminaries, clocking 53.60 seconds.

Britta Steffen of Germany was second in 53.67 and Marleen Veldhuis of the Netherlands was third in 53.76. American Natalie Coughlin, the bronze medalist in Athens, won her heat in 53.82 and was fourth overall.

Coughlin already has a full set of medals at these games, having won gold in the 100 back, silver in the 400 free relay and bronze earlier Wednesday in the 200 individual medley.

“The times were very fast,” she said.

Libby Trickett of Australia, the world champion who owns the world record of 52.88, was sixth (53.99). She will be hard-pressed to complete the 50-100 sprint double for the first time since the Dutch swimmer Inge de Bruijn did so eight years ago in Sydney.

American Lacey Nymeyer (14th) also moved on to the semifinals.

France had the leading qualifying time for the women’s 800 free relay. Alena Popchanka, Celine Couderc, Camille Muffat and Coralie Balmy set an Olympic record of 7:50.37.

The U.S. team of Caroline Burckle, Christine Marshall, Kim Vandenberg and Julia Smit was second in 7:52.43.

Federer avenges Olympic defeat

Signaling his recent tailspin may be over, Federer avenged a defeat four years ago at the Olympics by beating Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-6 (4) Wednesday to reach the quarterfinals.

It was Federer’s biggest victory since he lost to Rafael Nadal in an epic Wimbledon final last month.

Federer wept after losing to Berdych in the second round at the Athens Games in 2004. This time he was shouting “Yes!” and punching the air after he smacked a service winner on match point to finish off Berdych.

“He’s always dangerous,” Federer said. “I just tried to play tough and compact and not give him much.”

Nadal also advanced, digging out of a hole in a pivotal service game and beating Igor Andreev of Russia, 6-4, 6-2. Venus and Serena Williams won to remain on course for a sibling showdown in the women’s final Saturday.

Nadal and Federer could meet for the gold medal Sunday. Regardless of the tournament outcome, Nadal is assured of climbing to No. 1 in the rankings next week, ending Federer’s 41/2-year reign.

Federer will next face No. 8 James Blake, who advanced by beating No. 10 Gilles Simon of France 6-4, 6-2. Blake, the lone U.S. male to survive the first round of singles, is 0-8 against Federer and has won only one of their 22 sets.

“If he’s too good for me, he’s too good for me,” Blake said. “Every time at the beginning of each match, I’ve felt like I could come out on top.”

No. 3 Novak Djokovic, who could face Nadal in the semifinals, beat No. 13 Mikhail Youzhny of Russia 7-6 (3), 6-3.

No. 4 Serena Williams busted a racket in frustration over a slow start, then rallied to beat 18-year-old Alize Cornet of France 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Williams’ outburst came as she fell behind 5-1 in the first set. She gradually tamed her erratic groundstrokes, and after managing a service break in the opening game of the final set, she held in five consecutive games for the victory.

Venus Williams, playing her first tournament since winning Wimbledon for the fifth time, also reached the final eight by defeating No. 12 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 6-3, 6-2. Venus, seeded seventh, is seeking to add to her Olympic medal collection after winning the doubles with her sister and the singles at Sydney in 2000.

“It’s only every four years, so now is the time to really play well,” she said.

Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, who this week achieved the No. 1 ranking for the first time, beat No. 16 Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia 7-5, 6-1. Jankovic’s next opponent will be No. 6 Dinara Safina of Russia, riding a 13-match winning streak after beating Zheng Jie of China 6-4, 6-3.

When Federer broke for a 4-2 lead in the first set and let out a guttural “hmmmpf,” he sounded as though he was lifting a heavy load off his shoulders. Which is exactly what he’s trying to do in Beijing.

The stylish Swiss seeks his first medal after getting shut out at Sydney and Athens. He’s also trying to end a slump that has left him without a major title this year, stalling his career total at 12, two shy of Pete Sampras’ record.

Federer hit three aces in the final game of the first set, but his serve briefly went haywire two games later. He had three double-faults—more than he often hits in an entire match—and fell behind 3-0.

But those were his only double-faults, and he otherwise served well, breaking back in the fifth game and holding the rest of the way. In the tiebreaker he rallied from 3-1 down while hitting three service winners and his 11th ace.

Since losing to Berdych in Athens, Federer has beaten the Czech seven consecutive times while losing only one set.

Nadal played his third-round match on Court 1, which resembles a bull ring, and the Spaniard looked right at home as he wore down Andreev from the baseline. The 4,000-seat stadium was packed, and because of heavy haze the lights were on despite a 4 p.m. start.

Nadal broke for a 4-3 lead and served for the first set three games later. He fell behind love-40 and faced four break points in the game but overcame them all, with Andreev hitting a service return out each time.

In the second set, Nadal raced to a 4-0 lead. He closed out the match with a service winner, then punched the air in triumph.

“I am playing close to my best level,” Nadal said. “My goal is try to continuing playing like this.”

Laporta to decide on Messi

Barcelona president Joan Laporta is to make a decision on whether to recall Argentina star Lionel Messi from the Olympics.

Barca were never happy that Messi was taken to Beijing for the Olympics Games by his country.

The Spanish giants were one of a number of clubs to protest and take their cast to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, who ruled in their favour on Wednesday. In theory Messi, along with all European-based players, can now be recalled.

Both Werder Bremen and Schalke have since allowed their players Diego and Rafinha to stay in China, despite taking the case to the courts.

Now Barca are set to make a decision on Messi, who is due to line-up for Argentina in their opening game against Ivory Coast on Thursday.

"We are really satisfied with the resolution of the tribunal as they have accepted the position of Barcelona," Laporta told Sky Sports News.

"We had the right to decide whether to release the player to the Argentine national team, we have now set a precedent which is very important to the football clubs.

"We now have to evaluate the satiation to see what is best for Barcelona and the player and we have to think what is best for Argentina and we will soon make a decision."

Argentina coach Sergio Batista has already said that he will not be sending Messi back to Spain before the end of the tournament in Bejing.

Top-seed Ivanovic pulls out

The Olympic tennis event was dealt a further blow on Sunday with the news that women's top seed Ana Ivanovic had to pull out of the tournament with an injury to her right thumb.

The French Open champion sustained the injury when she returned to training after losing at Wimbledon and had not been able to practise since arriving in China.She had been due to face Ukraine's Mariya Koryttseva in the first round on Monday, but after consulting with a doctor on the inflammation, she said she needs more rest.

"This is one of the worst moments of my career," said the devastated Serbian, who will also be deposed as world number one by compatriot Jelena Jankovic on Monday.Ivanovic added the injury may take two weeks to heal and she still hopes to play in the US Open, which begins on 25th August.

She is the latest big name to withdraw after Maria Sharapova, Tatiana Golovin and Amelie Mauresmo had already pulled out of the competition, while 1996 champion Lindsay Davenport has decided not to play in the singles.Second seed Jankovic, who is due to play Zimbabwe's Cara Black in the first round, is still a doubtful starter after picking up a calf strain.

Ivanovic's withdrawal came on a rain-hit day at the tennis tournament where only nine of a scheduled 45 matches were completed.

First gold for sensational Phelps

The American could break all sorts of records in Beijing, and he has his eye on a record eight gold medals in one Olympic Games.Phelps posted a time of 4 minutes 03.84 seconds, finishing ahead of Hungarian Lazlo Cseh and compatriot Ryan Lochte.

The 23-year-old hit the turn into the backstroke leg of the race in front, touching almost half a second under world record pace, and he was faster still by the end of the backstroke as compatriot Lochte closed the gap.But an impressive 100 breaststroke saw Phelps move clear - and even further under world record pace - and he held on to his lead to set the fastest time ever and to start his attempt to eclipse Mark Spitz's Olympic medal winning record in style.

"I told Bob (Bowman, Phelps' coach) that this would be my last 400 IM, so I've got to go out there and get a good time," said Phelps. "And this was a good time.

"I wanted to get 4.03, to be honest I didn't feel so good.

"I knew it was going to need a strong breaststroke when we all turned together at the wall. Then Ryan turned dead even at 200m, so I knew I was going to have to overpower them."

"I'm pretty emotional," continued Phelps, whose swim was witnessed by United States President George W Bush.

"I wanted to go (for the record) but I wasn't sure if I should. But then, in the warm-up room, I kind of got these chills in my body and started getting excited.

"That's a pretty special feeling (having the President present). I waved. It was definitely pretty neat to have the President here tonight and cheer us all on."