Le Clos fifth in Medley final

SA's swimmer Chad le Clos failed to take the gold medal at the London Olympics (REUTERS)

Tags:

• Britain
• London
• Chad le Clos
• Michael Phelps
• Ryan Lochte
• Olympics 2012
• Swimming

Swimmer Chad le Clos finished fifth in the men's 400 metres individual medley final at the London Olympic Games tonight. Le Clos, the second fastest qualifier in the morning session, touched first after the opening length of the butterfly leg, but faded in the middle of the race to finish in 4:12.42.

American Ryan Lochte won gold in 4:05.18 as Olympic superstar Michael Phelps was shut out of the medals. The race was expected to be a duel between 14-time Olympic gold medallist Phelps and Lochte - who settled for bronze in the event four years ago in Beijing - as Phelps made it one of his eight golds.

Instead it was Lochte who won in 4min 05.18sec, comfortably in front of Brazilian Thiago Pereira in 4:08.86 with Japan's Kosuke Hagino claiming bronze with an Asian record of 4:08.94. Phelps was fourth in 4:09.28 - the first time since he was a 15-year-old at his first Olympics in Sydney that he failed to medal in an Olympic race. He was fourth in the 200m fly in Sydney.

The race was expected to be a duel between 14-time Olympic gold medallist Phelps and Lochte.

In the interim, Phelps had won six gold and two bronze in Athens, and his vaunted eight golds in eight events in Beijing. But Phelps was in trouble from the time he barely scraped into the final, putting himself in the unfavorable outside lane eight. He had never been seeded lower than fourth in an Olympic final.

He never led and once Lochte had gained the lead from le Clos by the end of the opening butterfly leg, the race appeared to be his to lose. Phelps had moved into second at the end of the butterfly and held onto it during the backstroke leg, but as Lochte began to extend his lead Phelps was locked in a battle with Pereira and Hagino that he was destined to lose.