Olympic roundup: France avenges 2008 swim loss to U.S.

Payback.

This time, it was France chasing down the United States -- and Ryan Lochte, no less -- to win a riveting relay at the Olympics.

With Michael Phelps looking much stronger than he did the night before, the Americans built a commanding lead over the first three legs of the 400-meter freestyle relay Sunday and never really had to worry about the defending world champions from Australia.

When Lochte dove into the water on the anchor leg, he was a half-body length ahead of the field and looking to add another gold to his dominating victory Saturday in the 400 individual medley.

Not so fast.

Yannick Agnel, playing the chaser role that Jason Lezak did for the Americans four years ago in this same event, sliced through the water and was right on Lochte's shoulder as they made the flip at the far end of the pool. With about 25 meters to go, they were stroke for stroke.

But Lochte, who had already competed in 1,200 meters of racing over the first two days, simply didn't have enough left to hold off the towering, 20-year-old Frenchman.

Agnel touched in 3 minutes, 9.93 seconds, having gone exactly one second faster than Lochte over the last 100 meters. Lochte and the Americans dropped to silver in 3:10.38, while Australia -- the favorite -- didn't even get a medal. Russia took the bronze in 3:11.41, edging the team from Down Under by 0.22 for the last spot on the podium.

Phelps settled for his 17th career medal -- and first silver -- to move closer to becoming the most decorated Olympian ever.

Briefly

Skeet: Kimberly Rhode became the first American with individual medals in five straight Olympics, after a golden, record-setting, nearly perfect performance. Rhode won the women's skeet shooting, tying a world record and setting the Olympic mark with 99 points -- she missed once in 100 shots.

Basketball: Kevin Durant scored 22 points, LeBron James added eight assists and the U.S. men opened with a rough-and-ragged 98-71 win over a French team featuring San Antonio guard Tony Parker and five other NBA players.

Beach volleyball: Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser earned a straight-set win over Japan, their seventh consecutive Olympic victory. The win kept the U.S. a perfect 4-0 in pool play.

Cycling: Lizzie Armitstead of Britain won silver in the road race, trailing only favorite Marianne Vos of the Netherlands, to give the host nation its first medal of the Games.

Archery: The South Koreans stayed perfect in women's team archery, winning their seventh straight gold medal -- every one since the event debuted at the Olympics.

Soccer: Spain suffered a rare setback, going out of the men's tournament after losing 1-0 to Honduras. Spain was looking to add an Olympic gold to its World Cup and European Championship titles.

Volleyball: The defending champion U.S. men's team opened by sweeping Serbia behind Matt Anderson's 18 points.

Water polo: Peter Varellas scored three goals to lead the United States over Montenegro 8-7.

Weightlifting: North Korea's Om Yun Chol, all of 5 feet and 123 pounds, won gold by lifting an Olympic record 370 pounds in the clean and jerk.

Diving: Abby Johnston and Kelci Bryant of the U.S. took the silver in women's 3-meter synchronized diving with 321.90 points, ending the country's diving medal drought that extended to the 2000 Sydney Games.

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