2016. The u. S. Women win gold in the 4x2. That was beautiful. Thats a gold medal for kirsten armstrong. Announcer this is a special edition of today at the Olympic Games with matt lauer live from Rio De Janeiro, brazil, and Savannah Guthrie liro good morning, everyone. Welcome to a special split edition of today. Im matt lauer along with hoda kotb. Savannah is in new york. We refuse to do a show without Medal Winners. Look at who we have today. That is Alison Schmidt part of that gold medal relay team in is alongside her. Michael hickson and sam dorman took silver in synchronized diving and well ask what it is like to compete in what is a big story here. The green water in the pool. Its so much fun to watch athletes and the crowd get to hang out a little bit. By the way, their parents are all hanging out over here taking by the way, you know who else is joining us on the beach this morning . Its going to feel a little bit like tennessee because the band perry is coming down here to rio and theyll put on a live concert on the beach a little later in the show. Savannah, back in new york and i know theres a lot going on in your world as well. Good morning to you. Good to see you. The president ial race as hot as ever here. Yet donald trump leveled against his opponent yet. He accused president obama of founding isis and naming Hillary Clinton as a can he founder. Well have the latest on all of that coming up. For now, back to you in rio. Savannah, thank you very much. We always begin with the biggest olympic moments and highlights from natalie. Good morning to you. Good morning, guys. Big night tonight. The duel Michael Phelps and ryan lochte will go head to head tonight. With swimmers, cyclist and divers racking up gold medals, team usa is on the cusp of a big milestone. Team usa is approaching a major milestone. Australia. Adding to that is Katie Ledecky. Ledecky turned in a powerful performance trailing which bun second when she hit the water coming from behind with incredible closing speed to win by close to two seconds before hitting the pool the team, which included Alison Schmidt and lee smith took a preswim selfie. A stunning win defeating josh pernot. Biggest shock of these Olympic Games. First ever swimming medal for kazakhstan. Michael phelps and ryan lochte took first and second when they compete for gold. At the olympics and lochtes final race of the games. We bring out the best of each other. Weve been doing it since 2004. Every time i race him, its the best. For olympians outside the aquatic center, it was a battle against mother nature. Armstrong wins her third consecutive gold. Armstrong now the oldest woman to medal in the sport winning just one day before her birthday sharing an emotional and tearful embrace with her young son moments after her victory and drama in Beach Volleyball. Americans Kerri Walsh Jennings and april ross facing tough competition from the switzerland. The match taking a turn when one of the players smashed into the sand hurting her neck. It was a nail biter for the u. S. Mens basketball team. Australia came within striking distance in the last 30 seconds of the game. But superstars kyrie irving led the team to victory. And a quick check of the medal count. U. S. Team still leading by a lot beating out china and japan so far and comingp to look out for. Golf returning to the olympics after 112 years. Matt is excited. In gymnastics, of course, womens allaround finals. Simone biles and harrison tries to make it back to back gold in judo and Michael Phelps and ryan lochte facing off in 200 i. M. Busy day. Thank you very much. Can we say hello to a few of Alison Schmidt part of that gold winning relay and first time olympian josh pernot. How does it feel. You have a gold medal around your neck along with a silver, how does that feel for you, alison . Im speechless. Taking in the w the journey has its ups and downs. And to have a gold around my neck again, an amazing feeling with three other girls. How much pressure were you feeling on the deck knowing its your job in the relay to get that team off to a very strong start. Knowing that you have Katie Ledecky theres not much pressure. Is it nerveracking at all to and wringing your hands making sure it works out. I had complete faith in the other three girls. Like i said, having katie anchor our relay, i wouldnt have any other swimmer anchor our relay. Josh, first time olympian. You sit there with the silver medal around your neck. Is the way you played it out in your mind for the last ten years . Yeah. Its absolutely a dream come true. It feels awesome to represent my country that well. Kazakhstan got the gold. It was a touch. Did you realize how close you were at that moment . That dude was super far away from me. I could only see two surrounding me so i had no idea. Hes a good kid. Im happy for him. As we were talking about families a second ago before we went on the air and just briefly talk about what this has been like for your families to go through this. A lot of tears. Being in rio, and there were a lot of tears. Happy tears. Knowing that everything weve been through together, they are there every step of the way. They are standing right over there. I feel like my family has been loving every minute of this. Every day i get a text from mom or dad saying this is sick. We love being here. Im happy for them. We would like to give you a chance to say hi to folks at home. Youre from ig yes. Josh . Whats up, berkeley . Guys, congratulations. Thank you. Congratulations. Now more on team usas dominance in the pool and the big races to look forward to today. Mike tirico is daytime host of nbcs olympic coverage. Good morning to you. Lets talk about the duel in the pool. What are you expecting . My neighbor over there. How can you beat one more time phelps and lochte in the pool in this race. These two guys have either one gold or World Championship for a decade in this event. One more time a showdown. They swim side by side. How do you think that affects the race . They have a great sense of where the other guy is at this point after competing in the same event for so long. You just look at lochte and you look at his career and its great. The the era of the greatest and how will history remember him . In an event phelps won three times in a row in the olympics, if lochte can get this, that will add to the specter of his greatness. Lets talk about Katie Ledecky. Magnificent. I used that one. Give me the list, matt. Give me something to work off of. A second down as she gets in the were talking about. You had the sense it was going to be no chance for anybody else from australia or canada to hold her off or catch her when she took the lead. Now the 800, were looking at a great gold haul for her. We dont expect anything but that . We learned in sports theres no guarantees. That one feels good. Ill ask you and ill lean back here and ask these two to weigh in as well. Could Katie Ledecky she holds w as allison will tell me thats 8 06. 68. Could Katie Ledecky become the first person to swim 800 meters under 8 minutes in her career . That would be a lot given the toll of the week. In her career . Why not . Ill defer to the person thats done it a few times more than me. If somebody is going to do im not betting against katie. Money holders here. What else are you looking forward to . You mentioned golf starting which were excited about. Over a century but gymnastics with the Great Success of women we saw them with you yesterday on the show. The opportunity now in the individual to have their success. Can you win the allaround the title americans have won before. Biles is good but keep an eye on raisman. I like how thats the rivalry. Biles versus u. S. Versus u. S. They cant wait to travel as a team around america and inspire more dreams. America cant wait either. Mike tirico, as always, thank you. Folks, congratulations again. Well have more on what to expect in that gymnastics competition coming up. You can catch the showdown between Michael Phelps and ryan lochte during nbcs prime time coverage of these games. York. In the president ial race this morning, donald trump stirring new controversy as he labeled president obama the founder of isis and Hillary Clinton its cofounder. This as we learn more about the man that captured a lot of attention on wednesday when he scaled the side of trump tower. Nbcs Hallie Jackson is in florida for us this morning. Good morning. Reporter good morning. All eyes were on that trump tower climber on fifth avenue. Here in florida, its donald trump in the spotlight. Accusing president obama of founding isis. In florida Late Wednesday at one of his rowier rallies, donald trump on the attack with a new line against president obama. Isis is honoring president obama. He is the founder of isis. Hes the founder of isis. Reporter and on defense for controversial comments suggesting gun rights advocates could act against Hillary Clinton. Judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people maybe there is. You look at the power they have in terms of votes and thats what i was referring to obviously. Reporter trump you pushing back against a report the secret service talked to his campaign about those remarks for the first time Hillary Clinton responds. That donald trump simply does not have the temperament to be president and chief. Reporter clinton under fire herself. An email leak from a conservative Advocacy Group has questions whether access was purchased to the state department. Its called pay for play. Reporter bill clinton has defended the foundation with Hillary Clintons campaign telling nbc news the new emails dont relate to the foundations skyscraper standoff in new york city. Suction cups and all. Police busting glass to try to stop a man scaling trump tower. The climber quickly becoming a media spectacle on air and online requesting a meeting with donald trump before police hauled him in. Donald trump again hit clinton after the father of an orlando nightclub shooter attended one of her rallies. Even as one of his raised eyebrows in the sunshine state. Mark foley sitting directly behind trump in his camera shot. Foley telling nbc he is a trump supporter and theyve been friends for 30 years and this new magazine out from time shows trump with the simple caption meltdown. Savannah . Hallie jackson on the campaign trail for us. Thank you. Breaking overnight, at least after an explosion rocked an Apartment Building outside washington d. C. The fire in silver spring, maryland, started just before midnight. More than 150 firefighters were called to battle those flames. They were fueled by a natural gas line. Firefighters were able to rescue several people who were trapped inside their apartments. Nearly 100 people have been displaced by that fire. And what a bizarre story out of england this morning. Police are investigating allegations that a british player at wimbledon was poisoned. Taylor was midway through her quarterfinal match in the junior tournament last month when she became sick and was forced to pull out. Her mother tells the Daily Telegraph that her daughter was diagnosed with a rare bacterial disease and believes its not an accident and that she could have been targeted by a rival player or coach. Well follow that one. Well send it back to rio. Morning. We are, savannah. Nice to see you. The sea is less angry in rio here today. Youre talking about a rare event back home. We saw a tornado in connecticut yesterday. Another one in long island. Look at the video from connecticut. This is north haven. Ef0 tornado going through knocking down trees and splintering trees and debris. A real mess. Thankfully nobody injured and no serious damage. Still enough of a problem. Le l talking about right now. Were talking 70 Million People under some sort of heat advisory. 22 states stretching from the midwest and plains all of the way into the northeast and new england. Heat advisories for boston and new york city. Look at the temperatures what theyre going to feel like today well over 100 thanks to this bermuda high pushing up oppressive humidity. Air temperatures near 100. Today into tomorrow northeast into the Midatlantic States and the gulf coast as well. Thats your latest weather. Guys . Al, thanks so much. Well get to the bottom of that big olympic mystery. Why is the water in some of the pools turning green and were going to ask silver Medal WinnersMichael Hickson and sam romans what its like to dive about going for a fourth straight gold medal in Beach Volleyball this time with brand new partner, april ross. First, this is today on nbc. Shes one of the wealthiest women in politics. Combined income thirty million dollars. Tours the world on private jets. Protected by armed guards for thirty years. But she doesnt believe in your right to keep a gun at home for selfdefense. An out of touch hypocrite. Shed leave you defenseless. The Nra Political Victory Fund is responsible coming up on trending, is that the duchess of cambridge rio . Another question. Another question. Is that the band perry poor another question. Is that the band perry foster kid black immigrant cancer patient small muslim the only label that matters is olympian. My girl cindy bought because of their worryfree 30day satisfaction guarantee on appliances. 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Youll start to see part of rio in the background now as the camera reveals the curve the copacabana beach coming up right now. And i want you to take a look down in the notch of the hill dun below. Thats our studio. Everybody wave. Turn around and wave, folks. Thats studio 1a rio style here on copacabana beach home of the 2016 summer games. That was beautiful by the live concert from the band perry here on that beach in just a couple minutes. Love them. Right over there in the orange room hanging out. Excited for that. We have a lot to get to in this half hour. Lets go right to your olympic headlines. Another night, another gold for Katie Ledecky in the 4x200 meter freestyle relay. Swimming last. Entered the pool in second place and touched the wall nearly two seconds ahead of the competition. Shes unreal. Lochte qualified first and second for the 200 meter i. M. Final setting up one last duel in the pool and that happens tonight. Thats going to be a thriller. In mens gymnastics, japan repeated as gold medal winner in mens individual allaround. Women get their turn today including the final five simone biles and aly raisman. Well have more on that battle and after 112 year absence, golf returns to the olympics this morning. Its a traditional 72hole tournament over the next four days. Team usa represented by pro golfers bubba watson, ricky fowler, patrick reed and matt kuchar. We welcomed one of the olympic diving pools had turned green and now other pools have done the same. Whats with the color change . Whats that all about . Keir simns olympic park. Hey, keir. Reporter good morning. I dont know whether to laugh or cry here. Athletes spend years preparing for the olympics only to compete in water the same color as the paving here. Olympic officials admitting they ran out of the right chemicals. It appears that allowed algae to spread to two pools now and now competitors are complaining that in trying to make it better they seem to be making it worse. Aquatic center. Reporter a stunning admission by olympic officials. The unsightly color caused by their own water tanks running out of some of the chemicals used in the Water Treatment process. Would you dive . You bet i would dive. This is the Olympic Games. Reporter and now new accusations from athletes that the water is being overtreated to compensate. Team usas water