LONDON — Five things to know about Friday, Day 7 of the London Olympics:
—Threepeat achieved: Phelps wins last individual race at Olympics.
—Saudi woman’s judo appearance hailed as victory for women in ultraconservative kingdom.
—Track and field gets under way with fans filling up stadium.
—Federer, Serena reach Olympic tennis finals.
—Wambach slides U.S. women’s team into soccer semis.
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Michael Phelps’ last individual race at the Olympics ended like so many of the ones before it — with his hands on the wall before everyone else in the pool.
Phelps rallied to win the 100-meter butterfly on Friday for his third gold of the London Games and No. 17 of his career. The American was next-to-last at the turn but closed strong to finish in 51.21 seconds, just ahead of Chad le Clos of South Africa and Evgeny Korotyshkin of Russia.
It was Phelps’ third consecutive win in the event at the Olympics. He has said he will retire after the games, so his final Olympic race will be the 4x100 medley relay Saturday.
Phelps’ 21st medal was part of another big night at the pool for the U.S., led by a pair of teenagers.
Missy Franklin set a world record in the 200 backstroke for the 17-year-old’s third gold in London. And right after Phelps was done, 15-year-old Katie Ledecky — the youngest member of the U.S. team — nearly broke the world record while winning the 800 freestyle, denying Britain’s Rebecca Adlington a repeat before her home fans.
Florent Manaudou of France took the 50 freestyle in 21.34 seconds. American Cullen Jones grabbed the silver medal and Brazil’s Cesar Cielo was third.
Phelps’ race was only slightly faster than a Saudi woman’s appearance in the judo tournament, but it was still being hailed as a victory for women in the Gulf kingdom.
Wojdan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shahrkhani became the first Saudi woman to compete at the Olympics when she lost her judo fight in 82 seconds. And she only made it to the mat after a compromise between Olympic organizers, the international judo federation and Saudi officials cleared the way for her to wear a modified hijab.
The crowd roared right before Shahrkhani’s fight against Puerto Rico’s Melissa Mojica. The Saudi, wearing judo dress and what appeared to be a tight-fitting black cap, looked tentative and cautious on her feet, and Mojica eventually grabbed Shahrkhani and flipped her onto her back, ending the match.
As she rose to her feet, Shahrkhani gently reached for her head to make sure the hijab was still in place. It was, and the two women bowed to each other and left to a loud ovation.
Afterward, the teenager walked with her father past journalists and TV cameras.
“I am happy to be at the Olympics,” she whispered in Arabic, her brother, Hassan, holding both her arms. “Unfortunately, we did not win a medal, but in the future we will and I will be a star for women’s participation.”
Olympic Stadium was packed for the first time since the opening ceremony, and heptathlete Jessica Ennis gave the delirious crowd exactly what it was hoping to see.
Ennis finished the 100-meter hurdles in 12.54 seconds, the fastest time ever in the heptathlon’s first event and the highlight of a raucous opening session for track and field.
Fans jammed the turnstiles at the stadium and were in place before Ennis left the warmup area shortly before 10 a.m. They waved their Union Jacks and cheered every British athlete with roars often reserved for gold medalists.
Ennis’ time matched Dawn Harper’s gold-winning burst in the 100-meter hurdle final at the Beijing Games — and would’ve been good enough to take that title at the 1992, 1996 and 2000 Olympics.
“Amazing. So loud. When you step up to jump or get in your blocks, they really get behind you. It’s a great feeling,” Ennis said.
There were more stirring moments as Wimbledon, where Roger Federer was pushed to the limit in his pursuit of his first Olympic singles medal.
Like so many other times on Centre Court, he delivered.
Federer rallied past Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina 3-6, 7-6 (5), 19-17 to reach the final. At 4 hours, 26 minutes, it was the longest three-set men’s match of the Open era.
“I was very tense at certain times,” Federer said. “I was seeing myself as a loser many times during the match.”
Federer faces another tough challenge when he meets Britain’s Andy Murray in Sunday’s gold-medal match. Murray, who advanced with a 7-5, 7-5 victory over Novak Djokovic, lost to Federer in the Wimbledon final last month.
Serena Williams also clinched her first Olympic singles medal, beating No. 1-seeded Victoria Azarenka 6-1, 6-2. On Saturday, Williams will face first-time Olympian Maria Sharapova, who beat Russian teammate Maria Kirilenko 6-2, 6-3.
U.S. soccer star Abby Wambach is battling Achilles tendinitis while dealing with a constant stream of defenders determined to shut her down in the London Olympics.
She just keeps scoring anyway.
The 32-year-old striker slid onto a pass in the 27th minute to knock home her fourth goal of the tournament and then celebrated with a cartwheel in the United States’ 2-0 win over New Zealand in the quarterfinals of the Olympic tournament.
Sydney Leroux added an insurance goal in the 87th minute for the two-time defending Olympic champion Americans, who will play Canada in Manchester on Monday. Canada advanced with a 2-0 victory over host Britain.
France faces Japan in the other semifinal. Yuki Ogimi scored and set up another goal to give world champion Japan a 2-0 victory over Brazil, and France reached the next round by edging Sweden 2-1 on goals by defenders Laura Georges and Wendie Renard.
The rest of the Olympic action Friday:
GYMNASTICS - TRAMPOLINE
China’s Dong Dong took the gold in men’s competition, putting together a dizzying series of flips and twists. Dmitry Ushakov of Russia was second, and defending Olympic champion Lu Chunlong of China grabbed the bronze.
TABLE TENNIS
China defeated Spain 3-0 to reach the women’s quarterfinals, and second-seeded Japan also advanced easily.
Singles gold medalist Li Xiaoxia, silver medalist Ding Ning and Guo Yue got the wins for China, which took the top two spots in women’s and men’s singles.
China is under pressure to win all four pingpong golds, which would give it 24 of 28 since 1988 when the sport entered the Olympics.
Japan also swept the United States.
ELSEWHERE IN LONDON
Charlotte Dujardin’s record score riding Valegro helped Britain take a slender lead over Germany after the two-day first round of the dressage competition. Rafalca, co-owned by the wife of U.S. presidential hopeful Mitt Romney and ridden by Jan Ebeling, scored 70.243 percent to place 30th out of 50 riders. ... Oh Jin-hyek of South Korea won the men’s individual archery competition, topping Takaharu Furukawa of Japan in a one-sided final. The bronze went to China’s Dai Xiaoxiang, who beat Rick van der Ven of the Netherlands 10-8 in a shoot-off tiebreaker. ... Svetlana Podobedova won Kazakhstan’s third weightlifting gold medal of the games, beating Russia’s Natalya Zabolotnaya in a women’s 75-kilogram showdown decided on the last lift. Poland’s Adrian Zielinski made the most defending champion Lu Yong’s early exit, winning the men’s 85-kg weight class. ... The badminton gold medal for mixed doubles went to China’s Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei. ... South Korea won the men’s team saber.
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Jay Cohen can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jcohenap
