3RD LEAD: Phelps beats Olympic medal record, Ye wins second gold By Peter Auf der Heyde, dpa Eds: Adds later races

London (dpa) - US superstar Michael Phelps on Tuesday made Olympic history when he picked up his 19th medal, while Chinese teenage sensation Ye Shiwen collected her second gold of the London Games.

Ye, 16, won the 200 metres medley three days after capturing gold in the 400 metre medley in world-record time. There was also joy for the US women‘s team, after Allison Schmitt won the 200m freestyle in Olympic record time.

Phelps was beaten in the men‘s 200m butterfly by South African Chad le Clos, but won silver and then went one better in the final race of the evening as he anchored the United States‘ 4x200m freestyle relay team to victory.

His 19 medals surpass the 18-medal record previously held by Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina. The relay also gave Ryan Lochte his second gold medal of the London Games, following a win in the 400m medley.

France took silver in the relay event, in a reversal of the 4x100m relay. China won the bronze.

In the butterfly final, Le Clos was lying third at the final turn, but powered past Phelps with the last strokes to take gold in 1 minute 52.96 seconds - beating the American by just 0.05 seconds.

Bronze went to Takeshi Matsuda from Japan.

Le Clos was crying as he received his gold medal to the cheers of a large contingent of South African fans in the Aquatic Centre in the Olympic Park.

"Phelps is my hero and I love the guy. To beat him, I can‘t believe it. You don‘t understand what this means to me. This is the greatest moment of my life," he said.

On the women‘s side, Schmitt swam 1:53.61 in the 200m freestyle to better the time set by Federica Pellegrini in 2008 by 1.21 seconds.

The American, who had not captured an Olympic gold before Tuesday, won ahead of 400m freestyle winner Camille Muffat, who finished 1.97 seconds behind.

Bronze went to Australian Bronte Barratt with 1:55.81. American teenager Missy Franklin missed out on a podium finish by 0.01 seconds - as did Pellegrini, who finished fifth, 3.12 behind Schmitt.

Schmitt noted that she now has the full medal collection, after winning silver and bronze earlier.

"I couldn‘t be happier. I couldn‘t see anything other than the racer next to me, so I didn‘t know where I was or what the time was," she said.

Ye was not as convincing in the 200m medley as she had been in the 400m, but still broke her own Olympic record in a time of 2:07.57.

She took the gold ahead of Australian Alicia Coutts, who was 0.58 seconds behind and American Caitlin Leverenz, who won bronze.

There was plenty to smile about for the partisan crowd in the semi-finals of the men‘s 200m breaststroke, where Britain‘s Michael Jamieson led the field into Wednesday‘s final.

Jamieson swam a 2:08.20, beating Hungarian Daniel Gyurta by 0.12. Another local hero, Andrew Willis, received a huge cheer as he went through to the final with the third-fastest time.

Japan‘s Kosuke Kitajima, who could become the first male swimmer to win three individual events in a row, had the fifth-fastest time.

In the women‘s 200m butterfly semi-finals, Kathleen Hersey led the field into the final in 2:05.90. The second-fastest time belonged to Chinese swimmer Jiao Liuyang, while Japan‘s Natsumi Hoshi followed.

In the first event of the evening, Frenchman Yannick Agnel stayed on course to win five medals at the Olympics as he scrapped through into the final of the 100m freestyle.

The 20-year-old, who already has gold in the 200m freestyle and the 4x100m freestyle relay, finished with the seventh-fastest time in the semi-finals, swimming 48.23.

Agnel later in the evening anchored the French 4x200m freestyle relay team to silver.

James Magnussen from Australia had the fastest time at 47.63, while American Adrian Nathan followed with 47.97. Also through to the final is world record holder Cesar Cielo, who swam 48.17. dpa adh mis amh