kevin, thank you. and you can see the phelps lochte showdown beginning at 8:00 p.m., 7:00 central. and when you watch the race tonight here on nbc, you'll be hearing the call of dan hicks of nbc sports. he's with us tonight. dan, this has a mighty casey aspect about it. though you in the trade, you guys who follow swimming year-round, knew lochte to be number one in the sport. it still is going to come as quite a drama to the folks joining us and watching this tonight. >> absolutely, brian. this is one race the 400 im, the most grueling of the races. and essentialological amichael

phelps didn't start training seriously until a few months ago. lochte has been considered the best swimmer in the world for quite some time now. everybody's used to phelps winning gold medals, let alone off the podium. it was pretty surreal. >> and dan, the two will meet again, i understand, thursday. both of them have individual races, and a lot of them in the days to come? >> they will. they have three more individual events to go. it will be very interesting to see how michael phelps bounces back. they'll be head-to-head we expect. but michael phelps just barely made it into the 400 im by .04 of a second. but he's a great olympic champion, the best of all-time. i expect him to bounce back, even though the same night lockte has a final in the 200 back. >> dan hicks in our nbc studios. thank you very much for being

with us. >> you're welcome. we want to turn our attention now to syria, the fighting intensified there, and the death toll mounted as government forces tried to regain control of that country's largest city, aleppo. while americans may not know a lot about it, aleppo is a city larger than chicago. our chief attorney correspondent richard engel was able to file a report for us tonight from inside syria. >> reporter: brian, witnesses have described to us a horrible scene today in the city of aleppo, which has now come under attack by syrian government forces, by tanks, artillery and helicopters. much of the fighting is in the south and southwest of aleppo, where rebels are holed up, fighting against what appears to be a full-on government onslaught. families are trying to leave aleppo any way they can, in taxis, on motorcycles. some have managed to come to villages like this one which are

now under rebel control. one man who left aleppo today said as he was leaving, he saw bodies on his left, bodies on his right. many of them of women and children. but once families do reach villages like this one, the situation is not much better. this village is completely surrounded by syrian forces, and often comes under attack. brian? >> richard engel reporting for us tonight from inside syria. mitt romney left london today for tel aviv where he is hoping for a better reception, a better outing than the one he got here, after questioning this city's preparedness to host the games. in his conversation with us, the romney campaign is hoping to win over jewish voters in the u.s. by delivering a message that he would be a better friend to israel than president obama has been. now, to colorado, and the news that has come out of the aftermath of the massacre in that movie theater over a week ago now. today the funerals continued for the victims there, as we learn

new details about the suspect. his lawyers revealing james holmes was seeing a psychiatrist, even as police say he was plotting to commit mass murder. our report tonight from nbc's mike taibbi. >> reporter: they're being laid to rest. rebecca, a local mother of two in her own hometown. >> rebecca was full of life and light. >> reporter: matt mcquinn buried in ohio, john larry more iowa. jonathan blunk to be buried in reno. jessica ghawi in san antonio. >> you don't know how long you have here ro. >> reporter: these are days spent healing. >> i was holding on to my neck. to staunch the bleeding. >> reporter: and reflecting on what brought them to this theater at just the wrong time. a theater whose owners are now

offering to pay funeral expenses for those killed. for barton and boyhood pal, it was a bicycle trip to discover america. 3,000 miles so far east to west, stopping on day 44 for just one day in aurora. movie tickets for themselves and a local pal, and then madness. >> what happened kind of is the worst part, you know, of humanity. >> reporter: as for the suspect, james holmes, his lawyer revealed he had been in contact with a university psychiatrist while his academic career fell apart, and while police say he assembled an arsenal. meanwhile, greg, the crossmaker after oklahoma city, after columbine, has been asked once again to mark an unspeakable tragedy. >> it's a message of hope. >> reporter: and while the city's flags will be raised back to full staff tomorrow, rebecca's mother, like the loved ones of all the dead, mostly feels diminished. >> i don't care what anybody ever says to me about why, it

doesn't matter. it's just senseless. >> reporter: holmes will be here court on monday to hear the formal charges against him. whether the state will seek the death penalty or holmes will plead ip sanity might not know be known for months. >> mike, thanks. still ahead as we koimt along the way, on a saturday night, before that stunning finish here today, we get to listen to what michael phelps said to matt lauer about some rough personal struggles, about being on top of the world. and then later the queen's show-stopping entrance. just the latest big surprise in what has been the rebranding of the royal family.

we are back here from london tonight where folks are still stunned at michael phelps' fourth place finish in today's 400 meter individual medley. and we have a chance now to listen for clues in a way that were there ahead of time, that this may be, or wouldn't be the same michael phelps in london that we saw in beijing. he's dealt with a series of struggles in the last four years, both public and private, and recently he sat down to talk

with matt lauer about them. >> history in beijing! >> before he shattered records in beijing, 19 years of age, this is history in the making, before he captured the world's attention in athens, and in lane six, michael phelps, before he debuted at 15 in sydney as the u.s. team's youngest member, michael phelps started his journey in this no-frills pool in baltimore. >> just a strange feeling. just because it's -- everything is coming to an end. >> what you've done didn't come without a lot of blood, sweat and tears. and lot of those tears were spilled light in this pool. >> there's been a lot of yelling and screaming in this pool. >> the water was an outlet to channel his excess energy as a child with adhd. when told to swim, he had one response -- how fast. he was a swim machine.

life submerged underwater was easier than out of it. out of the 36 olympic medals from beijing, phelps won 8 of them. but after reaching such dizzying hig heights, phelps fell into a depression. >> you kind of roll down the hill. >> he gained 25 pounds, made headlines for smoking a bong, and lost interest in swimming. >> i literally didn't do anything for six months. >> straight talk from a friend helped him get back on course. >> hearing somebody just be honest and straightforward with me, was all i really needed. >> in the last year and a half, he's gotten back in shape. adding boxing exercises to his training, sleeping in a high-altitude chamber. and using recent defeats as motivation. >> i think if you asked me

today, is he prepared to be as good a swimmer as he was in beijing, i would have to say no, because we haven't done the volume of training. but if you ask me has he prepared to be a better person than he was in beijing, without question. he's just more grown up. >> growing up and now giving back. phelps has been speaking to kids. >> it starts with a dream. plan on how you're going to get there. >> and promoting water safety programs at boys and girls clubs across the country. >> you've been keeping a journal? >> i have. >> it's unusual for you, isn't it? >> very strange. i really don't like to write that much. but, you know, being able to, you know, look back at all the memories that i've had, i think it's better if i write them down. >> what do you want the last entry in that journal to say? >> if i can look back and say i've done everything i wanted. i don't care what the headlines are or what anybody else says, if i can say my life, or my career has been a success,

that's all that matters to me. >> and perhaps finding there is life outside the pool. matt lauer, nbc news, london. >> the story of michael phelps still being written here in london. we're back in a moment with some of the day's other news, including something that hasn't been seen in 70 years until now.

a plane crash has taken the life of two-time u.s. olympic distance runner pat porter. he was killed along with his 15-year-old son, and a family friend when his beechcraft went down on takeoff in sedona, arizona. porter was married to former u.s. olympic high jumper trish king. he was a 13-time national

distance champion. pat porter was 53 years old. illinois democratic congressman jesse jackson jr., son of the civil rights leader, is extending his two-month-long leave of absence from congress. he's been transferred to the mayo clinic in minnesota. he's undergoing diagnosis, and treatment for both depression and gastrointestinal issues. jackson's office admitted only to a mood disorder, as they put it, when his disappearance from congress was first publicized. it's always been a big new england mystery until now. it was a day world war ii came very close to the continental sufficient. the german submarine named u-550, was part of a pitch naval battle 75 miles south of nantucket in 1944. after it blew up an american ship that was ll of gasoline en route here to the uk.

at 252 feet in length, that submarine sat deep on the ocean floor until it was discovered, found by an expedition just this past monday. when we come back here tonight, an extreme makeover for the royal family, including these olympic games.

saturday night in london. and finally here tonight, okay, there was a little bit of sniping, that they were awfully stone-faced in that royal box at the stadium last night. and the queen, as usual, pretty much refused to crack a smile, even in the face of really cute kids. but there's no way you can argue this isn't a vastly different royal family as compared to just a few years ago, beginning with the queen's entrance into the stadium by parachute last night, or so we were led to believe. chris jan sing is here tonight. just kate alone has changed the look of this bunch forever. >> she's amazing. she has been a game-changer for a royal family trying to get away from the stodgy image. and she was in the royal box last night. but the surprise star at the opening ceremony was the queen herself who came off as, dare i say it, cool as james bond.

meet the new bond girl, who stole the show at the opening ceremony. in a cheeky bit of british humor, her majesty set up a high-flying entrance that left brits gobsnapped. >> good fun. >> what's happened here is a bit of a rebranding of britain. no longer the stiff upper lip and bowler happens. a little cooler and more fun. >> reporter: out having more fun today, she was watching swimming, visiting athletes, and touring the olympic orbit with london's mayor, who weighed in with his own review in an off-mike moment. >> after the high-powered glamour of the wedding, the pomp and pa gentry, they're having their own olympic moment. will, kate and harry seemed to be everywhere. just this week at a charity

event, showing off their athletic prowess. or not. and there's a lot more to come for the royal olympic ambassadors. 30 official appearances during the games. harry has tickets to the gold medal beach volleyball game. he's shown an appreciation for their skills in the past. and they'll be watching their cousin, zahra for instance flips, competing at the equestrian stadium tomorrow. we caught up with her coming and going today and asked the hard-hitting question on everyone's mind. >> zahra, as we've seen, what did you think of your grandmother last night? she wasn't talking. but director danny boyle was. telling meredith vieira, he was impressed with the queen, who nailed the part of herself in just one take. >> her and james bond got on very well. and the corgis were fine as well. >> it all sounded bloody fantastic.

in addition to the parachuting, we're told the queen was offered body doubles for her beloved corgis. brian, she refused. they played themselves. >> who doesn't love a corgi. chris jansing here in london, thanks. that is our broadcast on a saturday night. i'm brian williams reporting again tonight from london. we'll look for you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

swimming royalty pulled off her throne by her own coach. natalie coughlin may have swam her last olympic race. good evening. i'm diane dwyer. this is day one of the olympic competition. there's already controversy at the pool as well as on the soccer field involving bay area athletes. we'll take you to london behind the scenes as well as recap some of the competition from earlier today. we're also going to introduce you to some local athletes who