Michael Phelps Equals Medals Mark
2012 London Summer Olympics

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London, England

The entire world is eyeing a gold medal from Michael Phelps, but the champion swimmer doesn't have his eyes set on the top podium finish, at least not yet.

At the Aquatics Center, little known South African Chad le Clos warded off the famous American's challenge to clinch gold in 1:52.96 sec, while the champion swimmer had to settle for silver with a timing of 1:53.01.

But the silver helped the 27-year-old American equal the record for the most number of medals in an Olympic career. After the disappointment of the 400m individual medley, this was the occasion when Phelps could have shown he still had the hunger to clinch gold.

He led at every turn in his pursuit to become the first man in history to win the same swimming event at the Olympics three consecutive times, but got beaten by just five-hundredths of a second. Japan's Takeshi Matsuda clinched bronze in 1:53.21.

With this silver, Phelps is tied with gymnast Larisa Latynina of the erstwhile Soviet Union who clinched 18 Olympic medals.

Yannick Agnel is fast becoming the American bugbear and there is precious little the likes of Ryan Lochte can do about it. On Monday evening, he won the men's 200m freestyle in superb fashion to add to the 4x100m relay gold, which helped France win at the US quartet's expense Sunday.

But, there was some saving grace for the US team as teenager Missy Franklin helped her country stay ahead of France in the swimming medals race.

Agnel, whose amazing anchor leg handed France the upset relay win over the US Sunday, gave another outstanding performance in the 200m freestyle, winning in 1min 43.14sec, though he couldn't breach the world record.

Even as Agnel earned France their third swimming gold in London, Lochte was nowhere near the podium after South Korea's Park Tae-Hwan and China's Sun Yang dead-heated for silver in 1:44.93sec --- nearly two seconds behind the leader.

World champion Lochte, who quelled all challenge with a heavy hand in the men's 400m medley, was fourth and Germany's world-record holder, Paul Biedermann, was fifth.

A dazed Agnel, who clocked the best time since the state-of-the-art bodysuits were banned by FINA in 2010, told the media after the race that he wasn't expecting gold in the event. His joy knew no bounds as he was congratulated by French President Francois Hollande at the poolside.

"I had a race plan in my head, but this is above my hopes and expectations," he was quoted as telling the media.

Though Lochte was a huge disappontment after the high of the 400m individual medley gold and relay silver, 17-year-old Missy Franklin lived up to her expectations, overcoming the challenge of Australia's Emily Seebohm to win the women's 100m backstroke title in 58.33sec.

Seebohm was a close second in 58.68 sec, while Japan's Aya Terakawa bagged the bronze in 58.83.