Day 4: Phelps sets medal record, Ye shrugs off doping speculations to win second gold

By Sportswriter Gao Peng

LONDON, July 31 (Xinhua) -- American superstar Michael Phelps won two medals, including a relay gold, on Tuesday night to become the most successful Olympian ever, while Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen brushed aside doping speculations to claim her second gold at the London Games.

A bittersweet silver in the men's 200m butterfly and the 4x200m freestyle relay gold lifted Phelps' career medal tally to 19, beating Russian gymnast Larisa Latymina's record of 18 medals.

Phelps' 19 Olympic medals included a record 15 gold, eight of them won in Beijing four years ago.

South Africa's Chad le Cos pulled off one of the biggest upsets in the Aquatics Center with a come-from-behind victory in the men's 200m butterfly final, thwarting Phelps' bid for his first gold in London.

Phelps was in the lead at every turn but Cos surged past the American at the finish to win in 1 minute 52.96 seconds. Phelps was just five-hundredths of a second behind, and Japan's Takeshi Matsuda grabbed bronze.

"He is a hard worker and he's a very talented kid," Phelps said of Cos.

Cos' triumph means Phelps missed out on the chance to become the first male swimmer to win the same event in three consecutive Olympics, but the Phelps did write his name into the Olympic record books when he returned a hour later to anchor the U.S. team to the 4x200m freestyle relay triumph.

"I thanked those guys for helping me get to this moment ," Phelps said after the race.

Also in the pool, Ye Shiwen, who was in the center of doping speculation after her world record-breaking performance in the 400m IM on Saturday, won the 200m IM in an Olympic record time of 2:07.57.

The 16-year-old Ye needed a typical strong final freestyle leg to overtake Australian Alicia Coutts, who produced a strong third lap on the breaststroke to momentarily take the lead.

"I didn't expect the others to swim so fast, I was surprised, but I couldn't lost the race," said Ye, who added the recent accusations of doping had not affected her.

Earlier on Tuesday, IOC communications director Mark Adams came to the defence of Ye, saying all medal winners are drug tested and there is no evidence against Ye.

"We have a very strong drugs testing program. And we're very confident that if there are cheats then we will catch them," said Adams.

"She is a victor. She is not a doper," he added.