With a week of exciting competition in the books, August 4 marks the final day of 2012 Olympic swimming competition from the Aquatic Center in London. Here's a preview of the four events still to be decided.
First up is the women's 50m freestyle. Team USA's Jessica Hardy claimed the final qualifying spot, but she's probably not a medal favorite. That distinction belongs to the Netherlands' Ranomi Kromowidjojo, who not only posted the fastest preliminary time, but claimed victory in the 100m freestyle. It should be her race to lose. The swim will air in real time via NBCOlympics.com livestream at 11:30 AM PT.
The second race to be decided is the arduous men's 1500m freestyle at 11:36 AM PT. World Record holder Sun Yang, who holds the event World Record, was the top qualifier and is likely to take the gold. American Connor Jaeger is a long-shot for the podium, but anything can happen so don't count him out.
At 12:07 PM PT, the ladies will return to the pool for the women's 4x100m medley relay. Although Team USA qualified only fourth behind Australia, don't count out America's chances. Strong swimmers--and London Games individual gold medalists--Dana Vollmer and Missy Franklin didn't swim in the preliminaries, but are expected to take part in the final race. With them in the mix, the US stands an excellent chance of winding up on the podium.
The final event of the 2012 Games is the men's 4x100m medley relay, featuring Michael Phelps' swan song. And things look good for Team USA: they enter as top qualifiers, and have held the World Record in the event since 1971. The race is slated to begin at 12:27 PM PT.
Olympic open water swimming events will take place on August 9 and 10.
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