alia)The Australian won the 100m freestyle gold at 3 consecu

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Ryan Lochte was tired of sitting around his room in the Olympic athletes village and watching his U.S. teammates in the pool.He was raring to get racing.Lochte competed for the first time in the Rio Games on Tuesday, anchoring the Americans 4x200-meter freestyle relay in the preliminary heats. Clark Smith, Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz joined Lochte to get the U.S. into the final with the second fastest time of 7 minutes, 6.74 seconds.Britains quartet of Stephen Milne, Robbie Renwick, Dan Wallace and Duncan Scott had the top time of 7:06.31.The Russians are a medal threat for the night final, qualifying third in 7:06.81.Besides the relay, Lochtes only other event in Rio is the 200 individual medley, where he and teammate Michael Phelps resume their longtime rivalry.It was rough because I love racing, he said of waiting until Day Four of competition. Sitting back in my room and just watching finals, I was like, `Man, I cant wait until its my time. Now its ours and I think were just going to keep the ball rolling from what weve done the last two days.In Lochtes absence, the Americans have won 15 medals, including four golds.Everything they did, especially last night, really got me going, he said. We were definitely pumped up for this morning.The biggest surprise of the preliminaries was Daniel Gyurtas failure to advance in the 200 breaststroke. He wont defend his Olympic title from four years ago after finishing 17th. He fell two-hundredths of a second short of a spot in the semifinals. The top qualifier was Anton Chupkov of Russia in 2:07.93. His teammate, Ilya Khomenko, also advanced as did Americans Kevin Cordes and Josh Prenot.American Nathan Adrian has some work to do in the 100 freestyle. The defending Olympic champion grabbed the 16th and last qualifying spot for the semifinals with a time of 48.58 seconds. He was 0.68 seconds behind top qualifier Kyle Chalmers of Australia, who was timed in 47.90.I just didnt know it was going to be that close, Adrian said. Im impressed how far the world has come. That was certainly safe four years ago. Just got to be that much more sharp through all the heats, semis and finals these days.The other American, Caeleb Dressel, was second fastest in 47.91. Also moving into the semis was Santo Condorelli of Canada and Vladimir Morozov, one of the Russian swimmers initially banned from the Rio Games.In the womens 200 butterfly, Mireia Belmonte Garcia of Spain was the fastest qualifier in 2:06.64. She earned bronze in the 400 IM last weekend.U.S. teammates Hali Flickinger and Cammile Adams tied for the second-fastest time of 2:06.67 while swimming in different heats. Jamaal Wilkes Jersey . The parade and rally were held to celebrate the Saskatchewan Roughriders 45-23 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Sunday in the CFLs championship game. 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THE 34 EVENTSMen (17 events)Freestyle: 50m, 100m, 200m, 400m, 1500mBackstroke: 100m, 200mBreaststroke: 100m, 200mButterfly: 100m, 200mIndividual medley: 200m, 400mRelay : 4x100m freestyle, 4x200m freestyle, 4x100m medleyMarathon: 10km open-water circuitWomen (17 events)Freestyle: 50m, 100m, 200m, 400m, 800mBackstroke: 100m, 200mBreaststroke: 100m, 200mButterfly: 100m, 200mIndividual medley: 200m, 400mRelay: 4x100m freestyle, 4x200m freestyle, 4x100m medleyMarathon: 10km open-water circuitTHE FORMATFor the 50m, 100m and 200m races there are qualifying rounds, semi-finals and finals (8 swimmers).For the 400m, 800m, 1500m and relay races, the 8 swimmers with the best times in qualifying advance directly to the final.For the marathon races, 25 swimmers set off in a mass start, and the first to reach the finish line is the winner.MILESTONES36 BCSwimming competitions are held in Japan.11 February, 1869Foundation of the Associated Metropolitan Swimming Clubs (AMSC) in London. The organisation, which will become the Amateur Swimming Association (ASA) in 1886, promotes swimming as a leisure activity and outlines the first rules of competition.1896Swimming features at the first modern Games, with 3 events: the 100m, 500m and 1200m freestyle.1912Women make their Olympic swimming debut, with 2 events.9 July, 1922American Johnny Weissmuller, who would go on to star as Tarzan in films of the 1930s and 1940s, becomes the first man to swim the 100m freestyle in under a minute (58.6 seconds).28 February, 1964Australian Dawn Fraser becomes the first woman to swim the 100m freestyle in under a minute (58.9 seconds) in Sydney. On 27 October, 1962, in Melbourne, she had compleeted a 110-yard (100.dddddddddddd.58m) race in 59.9sec.1972American Mark Spitz storms to an unprecedented 7 gold medals at the Munich Games: 4 in individual races and 3 in relay races.2008Michael Phelps goes one better than Spitz, winning 8 gold medals at the Beijing Games (3 in relay). With his 6 titles from the 2004 Games, the American becomes the most successful Olympic champion in history, with a total of 14 golds.STARSDawn Fraser (Australia)The Australian won the 100m freestyle gold at 3 consecutive Games, in 1956, 1960 and 1964, and also won the 4x100m freestyle relay in 1956. On top of her 8 Olympic medals, she set 28 world records and was the first woman to swim the 100m freestyle in under a minute.Mark Spitz (United States)The American achieved unprecedented success at the Munich Games in 1972, winning 7 gold medals and setting 7 world records in the freestyle (100m, 200m), butterfly (100m, 200m) and relays. With 9 gold medals overall (he won 2 in 1968), he held the joint record for most Olympic titles, along with Paavo Nurmi, Carl Lewis and Larisa Latynina, until the emergence of Michael Phelps.Ian Thorpe (Australia)A global media star, Ian Thorpe was just 21 when he won the race of the century at Athens 2004, beating Pieter van den Hoogenband and Michael Phelps in a spellbinding 200m freestyle final. He also defended his 400m crown at those Games, while golds in the 4x100m and 4x200m events at Sydney 2000 took his tally to 5 Olympic titles. A 6-time individual world champion, he retired in 2006 at the age of just 24. ' ' '