EYES ON LONDON: Big night approaches for Phelps - MiamiHerald.com

LONDON -- Around the 2012 Olympics and its host city with journalists from The Associated Press bringing the flavor and details of the games to you:

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BIG NIGHT FOR PHELPS

After missing the medal podium in his first swim in London and taking a surprising silver in the 4x100 freestyle relay, Michael Phelps is back for two more shots at another gold medal on Tuesday. He will try to defend his title in the 200-meter butterfly and also swim in the 4x200 freestyle final.

Phelps had the fifth-fastest time in the 200 fly preliminaries on Monday, and he feels ready to go again.

"I'm pretty happy with that swim," Phelps said. "That's all I needed it to be."

- Beth Harris - Twitter http://www.twitter.com/bethharrisap

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'STUPID RULE'

"In this system it's a shame that the all-around champion doesn't get to compete in the finals at the Olympics because of a stupid rule." - John Geddert, coach of reigning world champion Jordyn Wieber, who will miss a shot at Olympic gold in Thursday's Olympic gymnastics all-around finals because international rules allow only two competitors per country.

- Will Graves - Twitter http://twitter.com/WillGravesAP

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JUDO GEM

Marti Malloy earned the second-ever Olympic judo medal for an American woman, and she was ready.

She proudly displayed the bronze prize for photographers and offered to strike the traditional pose.

"I've been working on my bite," she said Monday night. "I'm not sure if it should be mean or happy."

The 26-year-old Malloy got into judo when her parents enrolled her in a free class on a military base when she was growing up in Oak Harbor, Wash. She went on to compete at San Jose State University, and 92-year-old coach Yoshihiro Uchida made the trip to London to see her big win.

Malloy's three brothers also learned judo when they were kids, and she said she felt fortunate to be involved with the sport.

"Judo is one of those sports that in the U.S. obviously isn't very well known but is the thing that will teach you the most about discipline, respect, hard work, dedication," she said. "I know all sports are like that but judo especially, those are the ideals that the sport is built around."

- Jay Cohen - Twitter http://twitter.com/jcohenap

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RATINGS WIN

The Nielsen company says 36 million people watched NBC's Olympic coverage Sunday night, the biggest audience for the second night of a non-U.S. summer Olympics competition since TV began covering them in 1960.

Counting the opening ceremonies on Friday, an average of 35.8 million people have tuned in for the three nights. That's well above the 30.6 million who watched the first three nights in Beijing in 2008 and considerably more than the 24 million who saw the first three nights of the Athens games of 2004.

- David Bauder - Twitter http://twitter.com/dbauder

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STRICT MUM

Talk about strict parenting.

New Zealand kayaker Mike Dawson made the semifinals of the kayak slalom at the Olympics despite being given a two-second penalty by his mother Kay - who is a judge at the games.

Dawson touched gate five when going down the 18-gate Olympic course on Sunday, and his mother didn't hesitate to penalize her son. It was one of two two-second penalties Dawson received, but he still advanced to Wednesday's semis.

Dawson joked in an email to The Associated Press on Monday that he was tempted to get his coach to put in a protest "about that particular judge."