Sports

As The Guardian just reported:

"Here is perhaps the least surprising outcome of the Games: the awesome Williams sisters have secured the women's doubles for the United States, disposing of the Czech pair Hlavackova and Hradecka 6-4, 6-4. And Serena crowns a dominant display with a delightful twirl of celebration after plundering the gold medal point."

In what looks to be a new Olympics record, Tiki Gelana of Ethiopia just won the women's marathon in a time of 2:23.07.

Kenya's Priscah Jeptoo was second and Russia's Tatyana Petrova Arkhipova finished third.

As The Guardian notes, Gelana's "uncle Gezahegne Abera won men's marathon gold in Sydney 12 years ago."

Mary Keitany of Kenya, one of the pre-race favorites, came in fourth.

The previous women's Olympics record was 2:23.14.

Good morning.

While Bill takes a much-deserved mid-Olympics day off, we'll aim to keep up with what's going on in London.

It was a big day for sprinters in track and field Saturday. NPR's Mike Pesca joins guest host Linda Wertheimer with news from the 2012 London Olympics and the many ways to break a tie.

Transcript

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

There is still a week to go at the Olympics, but it's a good bet that after all the drama ends, Britons will look back on last night as the moment the Games turned in their favor - maybe not in the overall medal count but the host country got a huge psychological lift as Team Great Britain snagged three track and field gold medals on the Games' biggest stage. NPR's Tom Goldman reports.

Sunday night at the Olympics, South African Oscar Pistorius runs again in a preliminary heat in the 400-meter sprint. His first heat Saturday made history because Pistorius has artificial legs. He's the first amputee to run an Olympic race. NPR's Howard Berkes looks at an unprecedented Olympic quest some are not ready to accept.

Michael Phelps swam what he says was his last Olympic race: the men's 4x100 medley relay. NPR's Howard Berkes, who was in London, tells host Guy Raz about the race.

In 2008, Speedo got too good at making swimsuits.

Ninety-eight percent of medal winners that year wore the company's LZR Racer, a zip-sealed full-body suit that carried many top athletes — including Michael Phelps — to gold.

But after those games, the sport's international governing body changed the rules to outlaw the LZR by banning zippers and restricting mens' suit coverage from the navel to the knees. So Speedo went back to the drawing board and spent years developing what's now known as the Fastskin3 system.

Swimming the final race of his Olympic career, Michael Phelps gilded his resume just a bit more, helping the U.S. men's 4x100m medley relay team claim the gold medal at London's aquatic center. Phelps turned away a surprising challenge from the Japanese team, which had the lead when he went into the water to swim butterfly, the relay's third leg.

It was the 18th gold medal of Phelps' record-setting Olympic career. He leaves the London 2012 Games with 22 Olympic medals overall.

Swimming in London's Aquatic Center, the U.S. women's 4x100m medley relay team set a new world record in winning a gold medal, with Allison Schmitt swimming freestyle to anchor a relay that finished two seconds ahead of the competition, at 3:52.05.

All four members of the women's relay team had previously won gold in their events: Dana Vollmer (butterfly), Missy Franklin (backstroke), Rebecca Soni (breaststroke), and Schmitt.

The victory gave Franklin, 17, four gold medals and one bronze in the London 2012 Games.