Olympic Medal: M Swim 800 Free Relay

LONDON, July 31 (UPI) -- Michael Phelps anchored the United States to a gold medal Tuesday in the 800-meter freestyle relay and won his record 19th career Olympic medal.

The silver medal in the relay went to France and the bronze to China.

It was the first gold medal of the London Olympics for Phelps, who won eight of them in China four years ago. He has won 15 golds in Olympic competition, which is also a record.

Ryan Lochte, Conor Dwyer and Ricky Berens joined Phelps on the relay team and combined to give him a huge lead heading into the final leg.