Story highlights
- Ryan Lochte wins gold in the 400m individual medley
- 14 time Olympic gold medal winner Phelps finishes a disappointing fourth
- Brazilian Thiago Pereira claims silver, Kosuke Hagino takes bronze for Japan
Ryan Lochte won the United States' first gold medal at the London Olympics with an outstanding performance in Saturday's 400m individual medley.
Swimming superstar Michael Phelps, who has 14 Olympic gold medals from his three previous Olympics, could only manage fourth place in a disappointing performance.
"I think I am in shock right now. Going into these Games I knew I was capable of getting the win. I'm happy that I was able to do that," said Lochte.
The rivalry between Lochte and Phelps has dominated the build up to this year's swimming competition, but Phelps couldn't live up to the hype as he struggled to find the form that helped him win eight golds in eight days at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
With First Lady Michelle Obama in attendance, Lochte, the current Fina male swimmer of the year, dominated the race from the start.
A first for USA Olympic swim team 02:38
Phelps leads US quest for swimming glory 01:16
Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps competes in the men's 400-meter individual medley final swimming event during the first day of Olympics competition in London on Saturday, July 28. Phelps failed to medal in the event, finishing fourth. Photos: The opening ceremony
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photo – Ryan Lochte of the United States cuts through the water in the freestyle portion of the men's 400-meter individual medley finals on Saturday. Lochte won the gold medal.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photo – Freedom Chiya of South Africa dives for the ball against the United States during the men's beach volleyball preliminary round.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photo – Arianna Errigo, left, of Italy celebrates winning her semifinal fencing match against Valentina Vezzali of Italy in women's individual foil.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photo – Australia's Samantha Richards, center, shoots a layup against Great Britain during women's basketball play.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photo – Gaetane Thiney of France is checked by Choe Mi Gyong, left, and O Hui Sun, right, of North Korea during a women's soccer first-round match.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photo – Sania Mirza of India serves during her women's doubles tennis match with Rushmion Chakarvarthi against Chia-Jung Chuang and Su-Wei Hsieh of Taiwan.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photo – The fist of Turkey's Adem Kilicci lands against Nursahat Pazziyev of Turkmenistan during their first-round middleweight (75kg) bout.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photo – Poland's Natalia Partyka serves during a preliminary-round singles match against Denmark's Mie Skov in women's table tennis.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – U.S. volleyball player Destinee Hooker, left, spikes as South Korea's Kim Yeon-Koung attempts to block in the women's volleyball match.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – U.S. swimmer Ryan Lochte flashes his U.S. flag grill and the gold medal he won in the men's 400-meter individual medley.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Heather Watson of Great Britain plays against Sabine Lisicki and Angelique Kerber of Germany during a women's doubles tennis match.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Nadine Zumkehr of Switzerland dives for the ball against Greece during the women's beach volleyball preliminaries.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Russian gymnast Emin Garibov competes on the floor during the men's qualification of the artistic gymnastics event.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Russian gymnast Emin Garibov in the air during the men's artistic gymnastics qualification.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – French leftback Mariama Signate. left, vies with Norway's Amanda Kurtovic during a women's preliminary handball match.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Brazil's Karla Costa, No. 5, looks to pass against France's Endene Miyem, No. 5, and Isabelle Yacoubou, No. 5, of France in the first half of the women's basketball competition.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Michael Phelps of the United States dives in the water at the start of the the men's 400-meter individual medley final. He came in fourth.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Australia's Alicia Coutts competes in the women's 4x100-meter freestyle relay final swimming event.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – U.S. swimmer Ryan Lochte smiles after winning gold in the men's 400-meter individual medley final. Teammate and rival Michael Phelps finished fourth.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Jacob Wukie of the United States shoots an arrow during the men's team archery final match against Italy. Italy defeated the United States to win gold as South Korea got bronze.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – U.S. swimmer Ryan Lochte competes in the men's 400-meter individual medley final. "I know it's my time and I'm ready," said Lochte.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Britain's leftback Ewa Palies, center, vies with Montenegro's Maja Savic, left, and Katarina Bulatovic during a women's preliminary handball match.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Montenegro's pivot Ana Dokic vies with her competitors from Great Britain during a women's handball preliminary match.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – China's Sun Yang won gold in the men's 400-meter freestyle final.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – U.S soccer player Carli Lloyd, No.10, and teammate Alex Morgan, No.13, celebrate after scoring their third goal during a first-round game against Colombia.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – U.S. women's soccer team members Carli Lloyd, right; Megan Rapinoe, center; and Alex Morgan celebrate after scoring a third goal against Colombia during a first-round game.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Brazil's Larissa Franca, left, and Juliana Silva both go for the ball during the women's beach volleyball preliminary game against Natacha Rigobert and Elodie Li Yuk Lo of Mauritus.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – A fencing helmet lies on the field during an interruption of the women's foil fencing semifinal bout between Italy's Arianna Errigo and Italy's Valentina Vezzali.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Women's judo competition medalists, from left to right: Eva Csernoviczki of Hungary (tied for bronze); Charline Van Snick of Belgium (tied for bronze); Sarah Menezes of Brazil (gold); and Alina Dumitru of Romania (silver).
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – A British fan shows his support during a women's handball preliminary match between Montenegro and Great Britain.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Turkey's Nurdan Karagoz is competing in women's weightlifting.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Japanese gymnast Kohei Uchimura competes during the men's artistic gymnastics qualification event on the first day of the London 2012 Olympic Games.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Italy's Valentina Vezzali celebrates her victory over Tunisia's Ines Boubakri after their women's foil fencing quarterfinal bout.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Sofiane Milous of France, in white, competes with Hovhannes Davtyan of Armenia during the men's judo event.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – U.S. player Christie Rampone, right, vies with Colombia's Ingrid Vidal during the women's soccer competition.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Steve Grotowski of Great Britain dives for the ball during the men's beach volleyball preliminary round.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Russia's gold medalist Arsen Galstyan poses on the podium of a men's judo event.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps, right, and Hungary's Laszlo Cseh compete in the men's 400 meter individual medley heats.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Jill Scott, left, of Great Britain celebrates scoring with teammates Eniola Aluku and Kelly Smith during a first-round women's soccer game against Camaroon.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Qatari shooter Bahya Mansour al-Hamad competes during the 10 meter air rifle women's qualification.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Switzerland's Roger Federer returns the ball to Colombia's Alejandro Falla during the men's singles tennis match.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – American Heather O'Reilly, right, vies with Colombia's Ingrid Vidal, second right, during a women's soccer game.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Sweden's pivot Ulrika Agren, left, shoots under the look of Denmark's leftback Trine Troelsen during a women's preliminary handball match.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Japanese gymnast Kazuhito Tanaka competes on the horizontal bar during the men's artistic gymnastics qualification event.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Tiana Coudray of the United States riding Ringwood Magister competes in the dressage equestrian event.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – A picture taken with a robotic camera shows Nigeria's Quadri Aruna returning to Spain's Carlos Machado during their first round men's table tennis match.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Roger Federer of Switzerland serves against Alejandro Falla of Colombia during their men's singles tennis match.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Sue Bird, No. 6, of the United States shoots against Iva Ciglar, No. 10, of Croatia in the first half of their women's basketball game.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Great Britain's Mark Cavendish, third left, and other competitors approach the last bend of the race outside of Buckingham Palace during the men's cycling road race.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Yeji Kim of South Korea competes in a women's single sculls heat at Eton Dorney near Windsor, England.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Maja Zebic of Croatia attacks the goal in women's handball preliminaries between Croatia and Brazil.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Valentina Vezzali of Italy celebrates winning her women's foil individual fencing quaterfinal match against Ines Boubakri of Tunisia.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Svetlana Germanovich of Kazakhstan competes in a women's single sculls heat.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – From left, Diguan Pigot of Suriname, Amini Fonua of Tonga and Mubarak Al Besher of United Arab Emirates compete in heat one of the men's 100-meter breaststroke.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Spectators applaud as the peleton rides up Boxhill on the outskirts of London during the men's cycling road race.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Aleksandra Privalova of Belarus serves against Xing Han of Congo during their women's singles table tennis match.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Brazil's Sarah Menezes (top) celebrates after beating Belgium's Charline Van Snick in the semi-final judo match.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Saki Kumagai of Japan waves to the crowd after playing in a first-round women's soccer game between Japan and Sweden.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Desiree Scott of Canada and Andisiwe Mgcoyi of South Africa fight for the ball during a first-round women's soccer game.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Robenilson Vieira de Jesus of Brazil absorbs a punch from Orzubek Shayimov of Uzbekistan during their match, which Vieira de Jesus won.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – France's Sofiane Milous, left, competes with Armenia's Hovhannes Davtyan during their men's judo match.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Vietnam's Nguyen Thi Anh Vien competes in the women's 400-meter individual medley heats.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Goalkeeper Andreia Suntaque of Brazil tries to block a cross as Sarah Gregorius of New Zealand attempts a header.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Two athletes compete in the men's judo event.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Italy's Arianna Errigo, left, fences against U.S. fencer Lee Kiefer during their women's foil fencing quarterfinal bout.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Angola's Nadir Manuel, No. 14, center, follows through on her shot against Turkey's Quanitra Hollingsvorth, No. 12, and Turkey's Saziye Ivegin, No. 14.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – U.S. tennis player Serena Williams returns a shot against Jelena Jankovic of Serbia during their women's singles tennis match.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Great Britain's Anna Bentley celebrates winning her women's foil match against Monica Peterson of Canada.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Tomoko Fukumi of Japan, in white, and Kelly Edwards of Great Britain compete in the women's judo competition.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – British gymnast Daniel Purvis performs on the artistic gymnastics men's parallel bars.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Eun Hee Ryu of South Korea scores from the penalty spot in the women's handball preliminaries against Spain.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – British fans enjoy the atmosphere during the men's cycling road race.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Japan's Aya Sameshima and Sofia Jakobsson of Sweden compete for the ball during a women's first-round soccer game.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – An athlete performs on the rings before the men's qualification for artistic gymnastics.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Felipe Kitadai of Brazil, in blue, competes with Rishod Sobirov of Uzbekistan in a judo match.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Serbia's Maja Ognjenovic, right, passes the ball during a women's volleyball match between Serbia and China.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – China's Nan Chen, No. 15, huddles with teammates.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Sweden's Sara Thunebro is given a yellow card during a women's first-round soccer game.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – French gymnast Cyril Tommasone competes on the pommel horse during the men's qualification of the artistic gymnastics event.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Senegal's Malick Fall competes in the men's 100-meter breaststroke heats.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – China's Yi Siling celebrates with her gold medal on the podium after winning the 10-meter air rifle women's final.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Kamila Augustyn of Poland looks for a shot against Anastasia Prokopenko of Russia during the women's singles badminton match.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Julius Brink of Germany spikes the ball during the men's beach volleyball match against Russia.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Rowers from Denmark compete in the men's lightweight four heats at Eton Dorney near Windsor, England.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – South Korea's gymnast Kim Hee Hoon competes on the rings during the men's qualification of the artistic gymnastics event.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Belgium's Charline Van Snick, right, celebrates after winning against Hungary's Eva Csernoviczki during the women's judo match.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Tunisia's Ines Boubakri celebrates her victory over U.S. fencer Nicole Ross after their women's foil fencing bout.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Serbia's Ana Ivanovic returns the ball to American Christina McHale during their women's singles tennis match.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Stefana Veljkovic, No. 11, and Ivana Djerisilo, No. 3, of Serbia react to a lost point to China during the women's volleyball game.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Michele Mueller of Canada riding Amistad competes in the dressage equestrian event.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – U.S. swimmer Ryan Lochte dives off of the starting block at the start of heat five of the men's 400-meter individual medley.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Having won the first gold medal of the Games, Siling Yi of China celebrates her victory during the ceremony for the women's 10-meter air rifle shooting.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Siling Yi of China competes for the gold at the Royal Artillery Barracks.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps competes in the men's 400 meter individual medley heats.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Lijie Miao of China, No. 8, battles for the basketball against Petra Kulichova, No. 13, of Czech Republic.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Japan's Nishioka Shiho, left, fences against Hong Kong's Lin Po Heung during their women's foil bout.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – U.S. swimmer Ryan Lochte competes in the men's 400-meter individual medley heats.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Algeria's Sehryne Hennaoui spikes the ball as Japan's Yukiko Ebata reaches to block during a women's volleyball match.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Russia's leftback Victoria Zhilinskayte, right, jumps to shoot during a preliminary round handball match against Angola.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Iran's Elaheh Ahmadi, second from right, competes during the women's 10-meter air rifle qualification at the Royal Artillery Barracks.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Mark Cavendish of Britain, right, takes off at the start of men's road race cycle event.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Mongolia's Tumurkhuleg Davaadorj, left, competes with Brazil's Felipe Kitadai during a judo match.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Chen Xue of China dips to return the ball during the women's beach volleyball match between China and Russia. See photos from day two of the games.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps competes in his 400-meter individual medley heat.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Mawussi Agbetoglo of Togo serves against Justin Han of Australia during their preliminary round singles match in the table tennis competition.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – A rower prepares to compete at Eton Dorney near Windsor, England.
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Photos: Day 1: The best photos of the Olympics
Day 1: The best photos – Tobias Englmaier of Germany, in white, and Hovhannes Davtyan of Armenia compete in the men's judo competition. See photos from Day 2 of the competition.
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The six-time Olympic medal winner, including three golds, opened up an early lead and never looked liked being caught in the race that combines four different strokes.
Phelps hasn't missed out on a medal since finishing fifth in the 200m butterfly at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, but he ends day one empty handed after finishing behind surprise medal winners Thiago Pereira and Kosuke Hagino.
"It was just a crappy race. They swam a better race than me, they swam a smarter race than me and that is why they are on the podium," said Phelps, who is scheduled to compete in seven events at the Games.
"It's just really frustrating to start off on a bad note like this, it's pretty upsetting."
"The biggest thing now is to try and get past this and move forward. I have a bunch of races and hopefully we can finish this a lot better than we started.
Brazilian Pereira won his first Olympic medal, having previously competed at the 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Japanese Kosuke Hagino, a 17 year old, won the 200m individual medley at last year's Fina junior World Championships and wasn't expected to even reach the final in London.
