Olympic fever on upswing

Dinesh WEERAWANSA reporting from England

The XXXth summer Olympiad is in full swing with the Olympic fever at its best and the competition proper of the 204-nation Games gradually reaching its peak with the commencement of the athletic events in a couple of day's time.

Until the athletic schedule gets underway on Friday, swimming, soccer and tennis have been the most eye-catching events that has attracted a greater number of spectators.

Michael Phelps became the most decorated sportsman in the 116-year-old history of the modern Olympic Games when his accounted for the gold in the 4 x 200m freestyle relay at the Aquatics Centre. That was his 19th Olympic Games gold medal. Earlier last evening, the 27-year-old swimmer equaled Larisa Latynina's record for most number of Olympic medals with silver he won in the 200m butterfly event.

The American swim sensation has now moved beyond the Russian, whose record had stood since 1964, to stand alone at the pinnacle with three more events to come. Phelps was just touched out for gold in the 200m butterfly by Chad le Clos of South Africa, with Takeshi Matsuda claiming the bronze for Japan.

Second gold medal for Ye

Earlier, teenager Ye Shiwen added the 200m Individual Medley title to the gold she won in the 400m individual medley.

The 16-year-old came from slightly down at third at the final turn to produce a storming freestyle leg to secure victory.

American Allison Schmitt won in Olympic record time in the 200m freestyle final.

Schmitt, who last month swam the event faster than anyone in textiles in history, led from start to finish and touched in a dominant one minute and 53.61 seconds.

Camille Muffat of France was second as the pair reversed their placings in the 400m freestyle.

China continues to dominate

China continued its dominance by the end of day four with nine gold medals, well ahead of the second-placed USA.

Lin Qingfeng went some way to restoring China's reputation as the major power in weightlifting after taking Olympic gold in the men's 69kg competition. China dominated proceedings on home soil four years ago, winning eight of the 15 gold medals that were on offer at Beijing 2008 Games.

But their position has been firmly challenged at London 2012, with China, DPR Korea and Kazakhstan each taking two golds from the first six on offer at ExCeL while the men's team were yet to stand on top of the winners’ podium before today.

However, all that changed after Lin comprehensively took the field apart with a total of 344kg, with silver going to Indonesia's Triyatno (333kg) and Romania's 20-year-old Razvan Constantin Martin clinching bronze (332kg).

In Olympic Games tennis championships now in progress at the Wimbledon, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga played his way into the history books today as he defeated Canada's Milos Raonic in the longest three-set match in Olympic history, while Novak Djokovic also booked his place in the next round.

The fifth seed finally won their second-round clash 6-3 3-6 25-23 after three hours and 57 minutes on Wimbledon's Court One, with the third set alone taking three hours, another Olympic record. In an era dominated by Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, Tsonga was pleased there was something left for him.

“'It's good because this is the only way to write my name in history for the moment. With Rafa, Roger and Novak, even Andy (Murray), it's tough to go through big tournaments. So I'm really happy. I hope I will have some more,” the Freshman said. Raonic, who at 21 is one of the bright hopes of men's Tennis, improved throughout the match but serving second in the decider eventually proved decisive.

Remarkably, though, the record may only last a day, with the doubles match between Czech pair Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek and Brazil's Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares called off at 18-18 in the third set for darkness. Tsonga next faces Spain's Feliciano Lopez, whose grass-court pedigree shone through as he dispatched ninth seed Juan Monaco of Argentina 6-4 6-4.

Bottom seed Djokovic had looked slightly shaky in his opening win over Fabio Fognini, dropping the first set, but it could not have been more different today as he overcame Andy Roddick 6-2 6-1 in only 54 minutes. Djokovic will play wild card Lleyton Hewitt in the third round. The Australian rolled back the years with a brilliant 6-4 7-5 victory over 13th seed Marin Cilic from Croatia.

Fourth seed David Ferrer from Spain had no trouble brushing aside Blaz Kavcic 6-2 6-2 and he next meets Japanese 15th seed Kei Nishikori, a 4-6 6-4 6-1 winner over Nikolay Davydenko. Cyprus’ Marcos Baghdatis toppled 16th seed Richard Gasquet 6-4 6-4 and he will play third seed Andy Murray in the last 16 in a repeat of last month's late-night Wimbledon classic. The Polish hopes for the men's volleyball gold were handed a crushing blow by Bulgaria in an all-action European duel at Earls Court. Andrea Anastasi's side had been installed as gold medal favourites by some after winning the World League, and appeared to be worthy of the tag as they took Italy apart in their opener.

But Bulgaria, who beat Great Britain's in their first match, played them at their own game, hitting them off the court with a simple down-the-middle approach to win 22-25, 27-29, 25-13, 23-25.

Tsvetan Sokolov led the way with 28 points. Poland were unable to deal with him at the net, while his four aces were an added bonus for the world number nines.

The former Beach Volleyball partnership of Zbigniew Bartman and Bartosz Kurek responded with a combined total of 41 points but, shorn of support in other areas, they were unable to keep their side in touch. They have a chance to get back on track against Argentina on Thursday, while Bulgaria will be favourites to extend their unbeaten record against Australia.

In table tennis, Li Xiaoxia guaranteed China more medal success on Day 4, while in the men's competition Taiwan's Chuang Chih-Yuan admitted he had mixed emotions after making progress.

Li set up a final with compatriot Ding Ning in the women's singles. The nation has thus far claimed more top prizes than anyone else at the Games, with Table Tennis always likely to add to their haul.

Some expect they will claim the four golds available - something that looks all the more realistic now. Much like her compatriot Ding, Li has encountered few problems in reaching Wednesday's final and had too much for Japan's Kasumi Ishikawa.

It means whatever happens China will continue their astonishing record of claiming every women's Singles medal since the sport was added to the Olympics schedule at Seoul 1988. Ding was favoured before the event to win, but Li will no doubt be confident following her dominant effort today. LONDON, Wednesday.