2012 Olympics Swimming: Matt Grevers, Missy Franklin Win Gold For Team USA

Olympics 2012 Swimming: United States Wins 4 More Medals

Heading into the 2012 London Olympics, much of the focus on the United States swimming team was on the head-to-head battle between Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte. On Monday, however, it was the other members of the US team stealing the show.

The United States added four more medals to their growing medal count Monday, including two gold medals. Missy Franklin, the 17-year-old from Colorado, captured the first gold medal of her career, winning the women's 100-meter backstroke.

"Indescribable," Franklin said, according to the Associated Press. "I still can't believe that happened. I don't even know what to think. I saw my parents' reaction on the screen and I just started bawling. I can't even think right now."

Franklin set an American record in the event with a winning time of 58.33. Even more impressive, she won the race less than 15 minutes after swimming in her semifinal heat.

Franklin wasn't the only American to win gold Monday. Matt Grevers won the men's 100-meter backstroke with an Olympic record time of 52.16. It was Grevers' third career gold and fifth career Olympic medal. He won silver in the 100-meter backstroke at the 2008 Olympics but came away with gold this year.

Nick Thoman joined Grevers on the 100-meter backstroke podium, taking home the silver medal. It was Thoman's first career Olympic medal. Rebecca Soni captured the United States' fourth medal of the day, winning silver in the women's 100-meter breaststroke. Soni, who also won silver in the same event at the 2008 Olympics, narrowly missed out on gold, finishing just 0.08 behind the winner Ruta Meilutyte.

"I'm a little disappointed," Soni said. "I knew it was going to come down to the last five meters and I wish I had five more meters to get to that finish. It was a great race overall."

While those four Americans finished on the podium, Ryan Lochte did not. Lochte finished a disappointing fourth in the men's 200-meter freestyle. After opening the Olympics with gold in the 400-meter individual medley, Lochte has now missed the podium in each of his last two races.

"I did my best," Lochte said. "I guess sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. I gave it 110 percent. There's probably some things I messed up on, but you live and learn."

Phelps did not race Monday, as he chose to not race in the 200-meter freestyle in London.

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Michael Phelps Qualifies For Men's 200m Fly Finals

Michael Phelps hasn't gotten off to a terrific start at the London 2012 Olympics, but he comfortably qualified for the finals of what is arguably his strongest event on Monday. He coasted into the final of the 200 meter butterfly, posting a time of 1:54.53. It was the fourth fastest time in qualifying and put him less than three tenths of a second behind Takeshi Matsuda, who posted a semifinal-best 1:54.25.

Phelps is joined in Tuesday's final by fellow American Tyler Clary, who posted the fifth fastest time. The 200 meter butterfly was the first world record ever claimed by Phelps, back in 2004. He's the current holder of the world record in the event and has set the 200 meter butterfly world record a total of eight times. Tuesday's final is scheduled for 7:49 p.m. local time, 2:49 p.m. ET.

For complete coverage of the 2012 London Olympics, vist SB Nation's Summer Olympics hub.

Women's 100m Breaststroke Final: 15-Year-Old Ruta Meilutyte Wins Gold, Rebecca Soni Takes Silver

Lithuania's Ruta Meilutyte became the youngest swimmer to ever win the women's 100m breaststroke, just edging out Rebecca Soni of Team USA at the wall Monday at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

Women's 100m Backstroke Final: Missy Franklin Wins Gold Medal

Missy Franklin won the gold medal in the women's 100m backstroke final Monday at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

Matt Grevers Wins Gold For Team USA In Men's 100m Backstroke Final

Matt Grevers used a massive turn to win the men's 200m backstroke going away.

Yannick Agnel Wins Gold In 200m Free, Ryan Lochte Fourth

In one of the deepest fields in any swimming event at London, Yannick Agnel dominated to win gold in the men's 200m freestyle Monday at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Team USA's Missy Franklin, Allison Schmitt Qualify For Women's 200m Freestyle Final

Missy Franklin is likely to get a couple of medals for Team USA at the 2012 London Olympics. She got into the women's 200m freestyle final on Monday by the skin of her teeth.

Franklin finished eighth of 16 semifinalists in the two heats of the day at 1:57.57, just .19 seconds ahead of Melani Costa-Schmid of Spain, and getting the U.S. two finalists in the event by a razor-thin margin. Allison Schmitt of Team USA took second in the first qualifying heat and second overall, turning in a time of 1:56.15.

Australia's Bronte Barratt qualified first for Tuesday's final in a time of 1:56.08.

Franklin's day wasn't over yet, either: less than a half-hour later, she was back in the pool and competing for gold in the women's 100m freestyle.

For more on the Olympics, check out SB Nation's London 2012 Olympics Hub. For more on Olympic swimming, follow the 2012 Olympic swimming section.

Olympics 2012 Streaming: Ryan Lochte Swims For Gold In Men's 200m Freestyle

Ryan Lochte didn't pull through at the end of the men's 4x100 relay on Sunday at the 2012 Summer Olympics. He'll have a chance to redeem himself on Day Three, with an event he's favored to medal in leading off swimming's afternoon session in the Aquatics Center at 2:30 p.m. ET.

The men's 200m freestyle, which is the first of four finals, will not be shown on American TV until NBC's primetime coverage, which begins Monday night at 8 p.m. ET., but a live Olympics swimming stream is available via NBC Live Extra. Here's the schedule for the four medal finals in the pool on Monday.

• 2:43 p.m. - Men's 200m Freestyle
• 2:51 p.m. - Women's 100m Backstroke
• 2:58 p.m. - Men's 100m Backstroke
• 3:15 p.m. - Women's 100m Breaststroke

While Lochte's the reigning world champion in the event, and favored to medal in the 200m free, he's far from the only great swimmer that will be in the pool. Sun Yang of China already has a gold medal in the 400m free this Olympics, and Yannick Agnel of France beat Lochte by a full second in the anchor leg of the 4x100 relay on Sunday. Park Tae-hwan took silver in that 400m free, and South Korea's star will be looking to improve on that.

If Lochte can win gold in the event, Americans might sweep swimming gold on the day. Missy Franklin is a gold contender in the women's 100m backstroke, Matt Grevers is the favorite in the men's 100m backstroke, and Rebecca Soni and Breeja Larson may duel for gold in the women's 100m breaststroke, though Lithuania's Ruta Meilutyte swam the fastest time in the latter event this year in qualifying.

Michael Phelps Advances To 200m Fly Semis

Fresh off his first career silver medal in the 4x100 freestyle relay, Michael Phelps returned to the pool Monday morning for the first round of qualifying for the 200m butterfly, and he made it through to the semifinals in comfortable fashion.

When he was in the pool, he probably didn't feel too great when touching the wall third in a qualifying heat — one of five before the two-heat semis — but Heat 5 was just the place to be. Austrian Dinko Jukic had the fastest qualifying time, and he was in Phelps' pool, touching in 1:54.79. Fellow American Tyler Clary finished in second in the heat and in qualifying with 1:54.96. Phelps finished in fifth in qualifying, comfortably finding a place among the 16 semis qualifiers, in 1:55.53.

Clary, who's swimming in his first Olympics, made waves earlier in the summer by calling Phelps out for lacking in work ethic. The times in the first round of qualifying are meaningless, but I'm sure Clary was out to finish ahead of Phelps and back up his words.

The semis of the 200m fly will take place at 3:32 p.m. ET, and the finals will be held on Tuesday.

For complete coverage of the 2012 London Olympics, vist SB Nation's Summer Olympics hub.

2012 Olympics Swimming: Schedule, TV Coverage For Monday

Ryan Lochte will have another chance to rack up his medal count on Monday.