Olympic roundup: Grevers sets record in 100-meter backstroke

Matt Grevers of the United States set an Olympic record to win the men's 100-meter backstroke at the London Olympics on Monday.

Grevers finished in 52.16 seconds, 0.38 ahead of the previous mark set by fellow American Aaron Peirsol at the 2008 Beijing Games.

Nick Thoman, another American, was second in 52.92, and Ryosuke Irie of Japan was third in 52.97.

Grevers said he and Thoman knew they "weren't jinxing anything," and they were right, though Grevers didn't notice right away that Americans took the top two spots.

"I must be selfish because it took me a good 10 seconds to realize he got second," he quipped. "That's something I should do right away. But when I noticed, that moment became much more special. To know that we can go 1-2 in that event, again really shows the USA's dominance in backstroke right now when we're able to step up."

The twin backstroke victories made up for a disappointing performance by U.S. star Ryan Lochte, who faded to fourth in the loaded 200 freestyle, won by France's Yannick Agnel.

Twitter wars

Twitter suspended the account of a Los Angeles-based reporter for a British newspaper who included the email address of the NBC Olympics president and asked his followers to write him to complain about the network's coverage. Guy Adams, a correspondent for The Independent, was upset with the network's decision to broadcast the opening ceremony on tape delay when he sent his critical tweet Friday afternoon.

A Swiss soccer player was expelled from the Olympics for his threatening and racist message on Twitter about South Koreans. The comments by Michel Morganella came hours after Switzerland lost to South Korea. He posted the message after playing in the 2-1 loss against South Korea on Sunday. He said in the tweet that South Koreans "can go burn" and referred to them as a "bunch of mongoloids."

U.S. women's soccer goalkeeper Hope Solo didn't back down from her Twitter outburst against NBC analyst Brandi Chastain, saying the tweets were her way of expressing her opinion about the quality of television announcers.

Briefly

Beach volleyball: Two-time gold medalists Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings earned their 16th consecutive Olympic victory, beating the Czech Republic in straight sets.

Boxing: Light heavyweight Damien Hooper rallied from a third-round deficit for a 13-11 victory over Marcus Browne, handing the U.S. team its first loss in London after a 4-0 start.

Gymnastics: China's men won their second straight Olympic title and third in four games, finishing with a score of 275.997 points. The U.S., seeking its first Olympic title since 1984 after finishing first in qualifying, finished fifth.

Soccer: FIFA imposed a two-match ban on Colombia player Lady Andrade after U.S. forward Abby Wambach said she was "sucker-punched" by her opponent in an Olympic football match.

Tennis: Venus Williams began her bid for a record fourth gold medal in Olympic tennis by beating Sara Errani of Italy, 6-3, 6-1. Twenty minutes after Williams won on Court 2, younger sister Serena closed out a second-round victory on Court 1, beating Urszula Radwanska of Poland, 6-2, 6-3. Among others to advance in singles were Roger Federer and Lleyton Hewitt.

Volleyball: The U.S. women's team defeated Brazil 3-1 in an early-round rematch of the Beijing Games final won by the Brazilians. Destinee Hooker had 23 points and Jordan Larson added 18 for the top-ranked Americans, who won 25-18, 25-17, 22-25, 25-21 to improve to 2-0 in pool play at Earls Court.

Water polo: In her Olympic debut, Maggie Steffens scored seven goals -- six in the first half alone -- and the U.S. women's water polo team survived a pesky Hungarian squad to win its opening match 14-13.

Women's basketball: Candace Parker had 14 points and 12 rebounds to lead the U.S. to a 90-38 rout of Angola. The Americans (2-0) have won their past 35 games in the Olympics and four consecutive gold medals.

Looking for comments?