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Greatest of all time

Michael Phelps will not repeat his eight - gold medal haul of Beijing four years ago but he continues to hog the headlines in the pool.

The American legend made it ۱۸ Olympic medals when he was narrowly touched off by Chad le Clos in the ۲۰۰m butterfly - arguably his best event.

But he shook off the disappointment of defeat by ۰.۰۵ seconds to return to the water within an hour, anchoring the American ۴x۱۰۰m freestyle team to an easy win - bettering Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina old record.

By his own standards he has not had an easy time of it in London, but the feeling in the Aquatics Centre was probably best summed up by the man who beat him to gold in that event, South African Le Clos.

" Phelps is my hero and I love the guy, " was his reaction.
Sweet silver

Great Britain bagged a silver medal in the team eventing competition at Greenwich Park.

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A superb clear round from Tina Cook secured the medal as the five - strong team fell just short of the gold - winning Germans.

Cook ' s clear round with just one time fault confirmed silver for team - mates Zara Phillips, Nicola Wilson, William Fox - Pitt, and Mary King.

Phillips, who later received the medal from her mum - the Princess Royal - said she ' messed up ' having gained seven faults although there was little to blame for missing out on gold.

" We are all being carried along on this wave of craziness, " said Fox - Pitt, of the London ۲۰۱۲ experience.

" This is something we have never experienced in our careers and never will again. It ' s just not normal. "
Longest tennis match

The longest three - set tennis match in Olympic history finally went the way of Jo - Wilfried Tsonga after three minutes short of four hours on Wimbledon ' s Court One.

There was little hint what was to come when the Frenchman shared the first two sets with Canada ' s Milos Raonic ۶-۳ ۳-۶ in their second - round encounter.

After a rain break early in the decider, the big - serving duo proceeded to go toe - to - toe for nearly three more hours.

Raonic, who was constantly serving to stay in the match, sent down huge deliveries to save match point at ۱۶-۱۵ down, and repeated the dose ۱۰ games later.

His resistance was finally broken in the ۴۸th game, fifth seed Tsonga putting away a forehand volley to seal victory ۲۵-۲۳ in the decider.
Honour in defeat

Great Britain ' s women were unable to match the exploits of their male counterparts but still came a creditable sixth in the artistic gymnastics.

Powerhouses China, Russia, United States and Romania dominated as expected, but Beth Tweddle, Hannah Whelan, Imogen Cairns, Rebecca Tunney and Jennifer Pinches scored ۱۷۰.۴۹۵, surpassing the seventh place Britain achieved - in the absence of the boycotting Soviet block countries - at the Los Angeles Games in ۱۹۸۴.

The result comes after GB narrowly missed out on a place in the final four years ago in Beijing where they finished ninth.

The United States team won the battle for gold medal, their first title since the ۱۹۹۶ Atlanta Games.

Russia, runners - up to the US at last year ' s World Championships, finished second, with European champions Romania pipping ۲۰۰۸ Olympic champions China to the bronze medal.
Farce

The badminton women ' s doubles competition descended into farce and scandal at Wembley Arena as two pairs appeared to deliberately start playing to lose.

In rather un - Olympic - like spirit, Chinese top seeds Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang and the South Koreans Jung Kyung - eun and Kim Ha - na were booed off after an extraordinary match in which players regularly served into the net or hit wide apparently on purpose.

Both pairs had already qualified for the last ۱۶ and their actions appeared to be an attempt to manipulate the final standings in Group A.

The reasons for both pairs wishing to do this were unclear but by ultimately losing the match, the Chinese now cannot play their compatriots and second seeds Tian Qing and Zhao Yunlei until the final.

The Korean pair won the match ۲۱-۱۴ ۲۱-۱۱ with the longest rally in the first game being just four strokes.

Match referee Thorsten Berg came on to court at one point to warn the players.

The farce continued later in the evening when another Korean pair, the third seeds Ha Jung - eun and Kim Min - jung, appeared to start playing up against Indonesia ' s Meiliana Jauhari and Greysia Polii.

Both pairs had also already qualified for the next stage from Group C, the connection with the earlier incident being that the pool winners would play Wang and Yu next.