Michael Phelps' 17th Gold Medal

Phelps adds to Olympic legend with 17th gold medal

By the CNN Wire Staff
updated 3:03 PM EDT, Fri August 3, 2012


London (CNN) -- Michael Phelps added to his Olympic legend Friday night, winning the 100-meter butterfly to capture his third gold medal of the London Games and the 17th of his career.

Already the most decorated Olympian in history, Phelps started off Friday's race -- which he has said will be his final individual Olympic race, having promised to retire after the competition -- trailing several competitors. But he charged back to eke out the win by 0.23 seconds over South Africa's Chad le Clos and Russia's Evgeny Korotyshkin, who finished with an identical time.

That margin, while slim, was still exponentially larger than when Phelps captured gold in the same event at the 2008 Beijing Games. Phelps won that race by .01 seconds by taking a quick, final stroke to catch a Serbian swimmer gliding to the wall.

Phelps wasn't the only American to make history in the pool Friday. Missy Franklin, a 17-year-old from Pasadena, California, earned her third gold medal, and fourth medal overall, in the women's 200-meter backstroke, smashing the world record in the process.

Elsewhere around the Olympics on Friday, Great Britain had one of its best days yet. The host nation captured three gold medals during the day, bringing its total for the Games to eight -- tied with South Korea for the third most of any country, behind the China and the United States.

The women's double sculls team of Anna Watkins and Katherine Grainger placed first in their competition, while the Brits excelled at the Velodrome for indoor cycling events.

The men's team pursuit title went to Great Britain, and in world record time. Then a short time later, Victoria Pendleton eked out a win by fractions of a second over a fast-charging competitor from China in the women's keirin competition.

London 2012 live: Day six

In tennis, Roger Federer of Switzerland advanced to the gold-medal match in men's singles, beating Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina in a four-hour, 26-minute match.

Del Potro now will battle for the bronze medal while Federer is guaranteed at least a silver after he faces the winner of Friday afternoon's semifinal match pitting Great Britain's Andy Murray against Novak Djokovic of Serbia.

The women's final, meanwhile, will pit American Serena Williams and Russia's Maria Sharapova after the two won semifinal matches Friday in straight sets. Both women are no strangers to the All-England Club court: Sharapova has won the iconic Wimbledon tennis major once, while Williams has captured that championship five times -- most recently just a few months ago.

The U.S. women's football team also moved to the semifinal round with a 2-0 win over New Zealand. Still, the biggest match of the day showcased two of the sport's top teams in Brazil and Japan. The reigning World Cup champion Japan won 2-0 to move on to the next round.

In judo, 16-year-old Wojdan Shaherkani of Saudi Arabia was allowed to compete wearing a headscarf, but lost in her elimination match Friday to Melissa Mojica of Puerto Rico in 82 seconds.

Officials initially said they would not allow her to compete in the headscarf, but Shaherkani's father and Saudi officials insisted she would not compete without it.

Shaherkani, who was competing in her first major international event, received a special invitation to compete from the International Olympic Committee.

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Anderson got a Pewter Medal for this race... Hey! A medal is a medal. Phelps only got to brag about it.