>> it's exciting. we vice president done much celebrating yet but hopefully after the competition's finished we'll have a lot of celebrating and we'll be really excited. >> who could sleep last night? or was it too much excite snm. >> i couldn't really sleep last night. >> who slept with their gold medal on? >> all of us. >> well, we are so excited to have you guys here. we're going to catch up a little bit more. much more with jordyn, mckayla, kayla, gabby, straight ahead. >> you were busy last night. did you hear about the michael phelps news also? michael phelps tied the all-time medal mark with a silver in the 200 meter butterfly, then he broke that mark with a gold in the 4 x 200 meter freestyle relay. he now has more medals than any olympian ever. let me just say it again. he now has more medals than any olympian ever. we'll hear from michael and talk to two members of that gold-medal-winning relay team live. later on, team usa plays beach volleyball on our plaza against phthe men. they like a challenge. >> let us begin with a huge night in london for team usa. natalie has the highlights. matt, savannah, ladies, good morning. it will be hard to match tuesday night's drama and excitement led by michael phelps and the women's gymnastics team. >> oh! unbelievable! >> reporter: the american women thundered their way to victory tuesday, striking gold in the gymnastics team final. >> with a good landing. >> reporter: one by one, the fab five took the floor and nailed every routine. >> gets the gold medal! >> reporter: when it was over, the americans, the dominant winner, with a score five points ahead of the russians, the first team gold medal for the u.s. since 1996. >> the crowd just clapped and cheered, and it gets me so pumped to have that support behind, you know, your back is definitely an amazing feeling. >> we've worked our whole life for this and just wanted to make it count. i'm so proud of all these girls. >> reporter: 17-year-old jordyn wieber, a moment of triumph after missing out on a shot at the individual all-around title. >> i think this is good redemption for me and just good we all came together and put all our hard work in and came out with the gold medal, it's really amazing and i'm proud of everybody. >> reporter: another crowning moment for team usa. >> 48-year-old record! >> reporter: michael phelps now holds the record for most career olympic medals after helping his team win gold in the 4 x 200 meer relay. >> the last 20 meters of the race i started smiling because i knew we had won, and very, very special night, special feeling. >> reporter: phelps now has 19 olympic medals, including 15 golds. >> i tried to hold myself together as much as i could, but my eyes were getting watery and it was emotional. >> reporter: phelps is hanging on! >> reporter: earlier tuesday, phelps took silver in the 200 meter butterfly, nudged out for gold by south africa. >> allison schmitt is blowing away the field! >> reporter: for the u.s. women, submit subm allison schmitt won her first medal in the 200 meter freestyle. >> it's amazing. just great. >> reporter: teammate missy franklin finished fourth. >> representing great britain! >> reporter: and the queen's granddaughter is now an olympic medalist, zara phillips winning a silver medal with the british equestrian team. phillips' mother, princess anne, presenting her daughter with the silver medal. >> reporter: princes william and harry along with the duchess of cambridge cheering their 'cauco and their homeland. we know president obama was watching phelps' historic win last night. he tweeted, "congrats to michael phelps for breaking the all-time olympic medal record. you've made your country proud." phelps responded with a tweet of his own. "thank you, mr. president. it's an honor representing the usa, the best country in the world." a quick check of the medal count. china and the u.s. each have 23 total, japan in third with 13. savannah? natalie, thanks. we are delighted to have the u.s. gymnastics women's team here celebrating their gold with us. aly raisman, jordyn wieber, kyla ross, mckayla maroney, and gabby douglas. i don't think you ladies need any introduction any more. has it sunk in? you guys didn't just win. i'll borrow kyla's favorite phrase, you rocked the house last night. kyla, would you agree? >> i definitely think we rocked the house. i hope we made our country proud. we wanted to go out there and have fun competing. we knew this was our chance to be strong and we did our best and it's happy to know we came out with the gold. >> it's amazing, gabby, because you didn't just win, you won by five points, astonishing, never done before. what did you think about that? >> yeah. i was so confident and so confident in these girls and i knew we could do it. and we had strong events, and i saw bam, bam, bam. i'm, like, we got this. i was so confident and so proud of these girls. and, you know, very excited to represent usa. >> last week when we talked i asked you guys if p any of you visualized that moment standing on the podium, receiving a gold medal, and some of you said yes, you had. now you've done it. mckayla, what was it really like? >> i think the way that i pictured it, this time it was even better. i mean, it was just a dream come true and so amazing. and just to be up there with those girls with the gold medal around our necks, it was the best experience of my life. >> jordyn, you talked about this last night. over the weekend you said you'd had a little bit of disappointment, but, boy, you could not tell it. you walked out there. you were the first to go, strong and confident. you nailed it. how did you rise above these circumstances and perform so flawlessly? >> definitely after sunday i just had to put it in the past, all the disappointment. but i knew i needed to mentally come together for this team, and we all went out there and did a great job, so i'm really proud of everyone. >> aly, you closed it out for everybody with a floor routine. at that point, did you kind of know, we got this and could you just have fun? >> i had no idea what we needed to get, but i was hoping that if i did a good floor routine that we would win, but i just wanted to finish up strong for team usa. >> mckayla, you did your vault. you're famous for your vault. i read one commentator who said they should rename it the maroney vault. i'm sure you'd be in support of that. >> definitely. but i think i should probably get a new vault named after me. >> i know you've had some problems with your toe. was it bothering you? were you in pain or did it feel okay? >> i felt really good going out there today, and i kind of just ignored the pain and hit my vault for team usa. >> there was that moment after the routines are over but you have to wait and find out what the scores are. jordyn, what was that like? or anybody answer how it felt just waiting to find out whether you had done it. >> i think we knew at that point we were pretty positive that we were going to get the gold, but seeing your country on the top of that scoreboard is an amazing feeling. we were just anticipating that so it was amazing. >> yeah. it's one thing that really struck me is your camaraderie and your friendship. i have to say even in the stands we could hear you guys yelling for each other. you're loud. how important do you think the friendship was, gabby, in making this team succeed? >> i think it's definitely important to have everyone behind you and cheer for you. that's what this team's about is giving each other pep talks or cheering for each other. i could definitely hear my awesome teammates cheering for me when i needed a pep talk, and we definitely hype each other up and do the greater and better things. so it's definitely important to have that, you know, behind you. >> you know, one of the things you guys told me last week, some of you, aly in particular, had watched that 1996 moment, the magnificent seven team, their winning moment, over and over again. i wonder how it feels today to know that little girls are watching your moment and what you guys did. has that sunk in? >> it definitely hasn't, but it gives me the chills just having you say that. it means that everything we've been working so hard to be able to have other people watch us, and it means everything. i'm so proud of these girls, and it was such an honor. >> as i said, you guys were pretty loud cheering, but you have a huge cheering section, your parents, some of whom i think are here today. we can show -- bring them on. come on, folks. anything you guys want to say to the parents who have supported you and loved you through this? [ applause ] hugs all around. jordyn, i know your mom was here. here she is. >> oh, my gosh. >> you guys, the parents, i know you are so proud. we're going to talk to you a little bit later. but gabby, having the support of your mom, how important has that been? >> it's definitely important to have, you know, your mom or your family support you. you just feel so honored and so happy and you make them feel so proud. and they've done so much for us. and just want to thank them and we love them. >> i bet this whole team agrees with that sentiment. guys, we are so proud of you. thank you for performing so flawlessly. and we look forward to more from team usa. thank you for being with us. i see a little tear in kyla's mom's eye. i know. it's a little emotional. thank you so much. we appreciate it. it is 7:11. here's matt. savannah, thank you very much. michael phelps is the most decorated olympian in history. he could not have done it without the help from these two guys, two of his teammates in the 2 by 400 meter freestyle relay. guys, congratulations. good to see you. >> good morning. >> this is a repeat of beijing in 2008 where the team won the gold medal there. how much pressure was there on you guys to repeat? >> a lot. you know, there's always a lot of pressure at the olympics. this is such a huge stage. we come around once every four years. this is when all eyes are on swimming, especially on michael phelps and what he's doing. so to repeat with the competition, it's so much greater than it was in 2008. it's incredible. >> it's a repeat except for one thing, and that's this guy, the new guy on the team this year. you weren't there in 2008 on this team, conor. so how did it feel to be a part of this? >> it was something special with michael breaking the record and making history. it was a blast to be on the relay. and it's easy with these three guys being so good. it takes a lot of pressure off. >> that whole michael phelps story line, though, i mean, this is a medal for you guys, as well, so was this 50% in your mind this is a gold medal for me to hang around my neck and 50% this also makes history? >> yeah. i didn't know about the -- you know, michael just takes care of his business and the team's business. and he wants us to do our best. he told us after the race, huddled us together, and he said i just want you guys to know i just broke the medal record. >> you weren't aware of it? >> not until the huddle after. he got pretty emotional after it. i had no idea. we were just trying to give him the biggest lead as possible. >> forever linked not just as gold medalists but as part of the team that broke the all-time record. i was going to ask you how you celebrate, but i think you tweeted that you showed what you went and ate afterwards? >> mcdonald's. >> vast quantities of food. is that out of the ordinary for you guys? >> oh, man. there it is right there. that's a lot. >> that's just a celebratory meal. >> i didn't eat it all, though. >> i helped him out. >> it's just, you know, we put so much pressure on this meet, we sacrifice so much for the olympic games. and we eat so healthy. we try to do everything right. it's just our time to just relax and really just -- mcdonald's sitting in the dining hall has been calling our names. >> it finally got the best of you. are you going to retire or keep swimming? >> i've got a lot to think about. it's a hard place to be in. i'd love the go out on top the way i did this games, but i'm also still very young. i probably haven't taken more than two weeks off of swimming since high school. and this is my chance to really take a break and relax. >> are you thinking about repeating this medal performance in rio in four years? >> i'll be here for another four years. >> that's great. congratulations. by the way, dating rebecca soni as well. i saw her with a silver the other night. are you getting time to spend with each other during the games? >> no. i've seen her for like 30 seconds >> our best to you guys. . nice to see gold and silver hanging around your neck. >> thank you. >> let's gets you caught up on the other top stories of the morning. natalie is in the studio with the headlines. good morning, everyone. trouble in the skies as we have three midair scares to report. a passenger on an air canada flight found a needle in a catered sandwich. the airline and police are investigating the incident. in july, four passengers found needles in sandwiches on delta flights. in denver, meanwhile, a united airlines flight is back safely on the ground after a bird flew into the nose leaving this gaping hole. no one was injured and fighter jets were scrambled to divert a transatlantic united airlines flight to boston after a suspicious item was found on board. that item turned out to be a camera and the flight was later cleared for takeoff. power has been restored in india after the worst blackout there in history. less than 620 million people, about half of the country, in the dark. the government has launched an investigation into what caused this system failure. severe flooding in the southwest tuesday. a monsoon dropped major rain in arizona, stranding vehicles in the rising waters. and in henderson, nevada, flashflooding washed out roadways there. president obama is back on the campaign trail today as he heads to the battleground state of ohio. republican challenger mitt romney is now back in the u.s., meanwhile, after his overseas trip. meantime, u.s. defense secretary leon panetta is meeting with israeli officials in jerusalem about the iranian nuclear threat and the conflict in neighboring syria. celebrated writer and cultural icon gore vidal has died. he was famous for his best-selling novel "sir" as well as for his appearances on tv and film. vidal died tuesday at his home in los angeles from complications from pneumonia. he was 86 years old. love at the ball game almost struck out when greg tried to propose to his girlfriend, erica, on the scoreboard at wrigley field. she unfortunately missed it stuck in line getting some beers. when erica finally came back, greg popped the question again, this time on one knee. after all, a girl who buys the beer at the ball game, i think she deserves a second chance. even without seeing her name in the lights there, erica said yes. sweet story. 7:17. you're up to date. back to matt, savannah, and al. >> he sends her to get the beer? >> i think she volunteered. >> she's a keeper. >> that would be the right one for me. >> going to extra innings. >> natalie, thank you very much. mr. roker with a first check of the weather. turning a little gray here. >> that's right. a few showers, but they've got more than a few showers down through the midwest and into the upper midwest. talking about a risk of strong storms stretching from mccook to rhinelander, wisconsin. we expect more showers and thunderstorms, isolated, damaging hail. that rain starting to fire up. look for the heat continuing in the midplains from new orleans all the way to kansas city, heat index is 110 to 115. you can look at these air temperatures, anywhere from 105 to 112, and the air index is going to make it feel -- the heat index make it feel in some areas like it's 115 degrees out there. good wednesday morning to you. 7:18. live look over san francisco. clouds making it for a comfortable day bay side and at the coast. 54 degrees in san francisco. by noon today your temperatures will climb into 70s in places like fremont 78 degrees as you break for lunch for lunch. 84 degrees in san jose. hot inland. i'm talking about 94 degrees in livermore. peek warmth tomorrow. cool off friday through the upcoming weekend. and that's your latest weather. matt? >> al, thank you very much. the royal family is doing its part to make the london olympics a success. meredith loves a royal sighting, and she's been doing a little royal watching for us. meredith, good morning. >> yes, i do, matt. good morning. hard to keep up with these people, actually, the duke and duchess of cambridge and prince harry attending a lot of events. tuesday they were in the stands to watch their cousin ride away with a medal. >> reporter: it was a nerve-racking day for the queen's equestrian granddaughter, zara phillips, and cheered on by her royal cousins, in the end, zara was crowned with a silver medal by her proud mom, princess anne. >> great to get a medal. obviously wanted the gold, but, you know, you can wear the silver. >> reporter: the young royal tri owe of william, cate and harry made their way. >> it's historical for the british family to win a medal in the olympics, a great occasion for the family and for britain, too. >> reporter: as olympic ambassadors, the young royals are determined to do their best in the british battle for medals. they welcomed the torch on its way through buckingham palace and are making appearances at a number of events. prince william rekindled his love for water polo that goes back to his university years. cate was a dedicated field hockey player. and harry, who tried out beach volleyball on a recent trip to brazil, is is throwing his full support behind the teams battling its out at the horse guards parade. they all shared their passion with youngsters at a coaching event last week. >> we love sports. >> reporter: while cate may not be a natural at table tennis and harry will need some more practice on the basketball court, both have just won gold in "vanity fair's" best dressed stakes. cate, whose classic yet trendy style is copied all over the world, heads the list for the third time running. prince harry makes the list for the first time. could it be those blue suede shoes? >> they're massive sports fans. this is just the beginning. we'll be seeing a lot more of them as the games go on. >> reporter: it was grandma who led the charge at the opening ceremony. and now it's up to the younger generation to keep the olympic spirit going. the princes are watching the rowing competition today, and they could be in for a very busy weekend. usain bolt has invited them to celebrate with him if he wins gold in saturday's 100 meter sprint. not sure what they're going to do. it would be fun. >> thank you very much. just ahead, what is it like to be the parents of the gold-medal-winning fab snooif we'll talk to them and find out how they're doing this morning. just ahead, the emotion at these games. >> we've seen tears of joy and tears of sorrow. and beach volleyball. we're challenging the defending gold medalists. >> i had to laugh. that's after your local news. 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