The golden touch: Michael Phelps wins again

LONDON - Seventh at the turn, an Olympic champion at the end.

For the 17th time.

What a way for Michael Phelps to go out in the final individual race of his career.

With those long arms whipping through the water, Phelps was next-to-last when he touched the wall at the far end of the pool in the 100-meter butterfly, but in a familiar position at the end Friday -- his name atop the leaderboard, a smile on his face, another gold medal around his neck after clocking 51.21 seconds.

Chad le Clos of South Africa and Evgeny Korotyshkin of Russia touched in 51.44 to share the silver medal.

Phelps claimed his third gold of the London Games and 17th of his career, adding to an already absurd record total that could be twice as much as anyone else by the time he swims the final race of his career, the 4x100 medley relay Saturday night.