On the first night of the London 2012 Olympics, China’s Shiwen Ye posted a world record of 4:28.43 in the women’s 400 IM, quite unusually by ripping the field apart in the last 100 freestyle. USA’s Elizabeth Beisel 2nd and China’s Xuanxu Li 3rd, old record was Stephanie Rice 4:29.45 from Beijing 2008, Rice now finishing in 6th. Michael Phelps didn’t make that 3rd gold medal in a row in the 400 IM, coming in 4th after Ryan Lochte in 4:05.18, Brazil’s Thiago Pereira in 4:08.86 and Japan’s Kosuke Hagino in 4:08.94. China’s Sun Yang set an Olympic record in the men’s 400 freestyle, posting 3:40.14 with reinstated Tae-hwan Park in 2nd and USA’s Peter Vanderkaay in 3rd, the world record only 7/100 away from Sun in 3:40.07. Australia won the women’s 4×100 freestyle in a new Olympic record of 3:33.15, the Netherlands in 2nd and USA in 3rd. Dana Vollmer led the field in the women’s 100 butterfly semi-finals, South Africa’s Cameron van der Burgh the men’s 100 breaststroke semi-finals with a new Olympic record of 58.83.
