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Michael Phelps Wins 22nd Olympic Medal; Drummer of Train Married a Couple; Twitter Big Hit in the Olympics; Temperatures in Oklahoma Reach a Scorching 113; Ebola Virus Outbreak in Uganda Continues
Aired August 04, 2012 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN HOST: We begin with the latest on the deadly Ebola virus outbreak in Uganda. We know at least 16 people have died and 30 more are suspected of having the disease and are being treated. This is one of the most dangerous diseases in the world and there is no cure.
Earlier I spoke with Dr. Olympia de la Rosa. She's the emergency coordinator for doctors without borders. She's on the ground in Uganda and has been treating patients, hands on. I asked her if Ebola is a death sentence for those who know to have it or can some of them actually work through it and survive.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DOCTOR OLYMPIA DE LA ROSA, EMERGENCY COORDINATOR FOR DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS: Yes, of course. In case in Ebola outbreaks we don't speak of 100 percent mortality rates. We are speaking of very high mortality rates but it can run from 50 percent to 90 percent, but there are survivors. In fact, in these outbreaks, the mortality we're facing is about 60 percent. This means there are 40 percent of people who have been surviving and overcoming these diseases.
MARCIANO: OK. So the positive -- the positive report that you're giving us is --
DE LA ROSA: Yes. Patients who we're concerned for these deaths, so we know there are Ebola patients who are surviving. So, that is also why we set up treatment centers and not just the burial centers.
MARCIANO: Understood.
DE LA ROSA: We really believe there are people that can overcome the disease and even though there is no treatment for this disease, we can provide supportive treatment and we think that we can contribute to the better survival of the patient.
MARCIANO: Is the strain of the disease different from 2007 and what will challenge does that bring?
DE LA ROSA: Yes. This is a different strain. This is the Sudan strain, the Ebola Sudan. (INAUDIBLE) in 2007 it was Ebola Uganda. In fact, the main difference is that the expected mortality is higher for Ebola Sudan, but the management, not only of the patients, but of the outbreak itself is the same.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIANO: We also learned today that one of five prisoners receiving treatment for the suspected case of the virus escaped the hospital last night. It isn't known yet whether he tested positive for the disease, the remaining prisoners are now being handcuffed to their beds.
Now to Syria. Fighting is intensifying in Aleppo, the country's commercial hub. Our sister network, CNN Turk, was able to enter an area under fire and capture this video. Today rebels stormed the state-run TV and radio station and took partial control of the building but eventually had to retreat under heavy shelling.
In the midst of the shooting, check out this video which reports to ship show non-violent protest against Syrian president Bashar Al- Assad. It reportedly happened yesterday. CNN can't independently confirm the authenticity of this video.
Opposition group says at least 56 people have died in fighting today.
Closer to home, worst case scenario in Oklahoma right now, gusty wind, a raging wildfire, extreme, dry conditions and then there's this, temperatures in Oklahoma today reaching a scorching 113 possibly again. Homes are on fire. People are running for their lives.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE LOVE, FIRE VICTIM: I stayed as long as I could and I had to get out of there. When I left other the fire was right at my back door. I don't even know what to think right now. I'm just numb to the whole deal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARCIANO: More than 60 buildings have already burned. Fire threatens more than 100 homes right now.
I want to bring in Ken Garcia and he's on the phone. He is with the Red Cross in Oklahoma.
Ken, we just heard from a victim who lost everything and what kind of things are the Red Cross doing for the poor people in Oklahoma?
KEN GARCIA, RED CROSS (via telephone): We are providing services to them, pretty much whatever they need whether it be health services, mental health services. We have shelters. We have three big fires here in Oklahoma that we are dealing with and we've got shelters open for all of those people that will be open again for tonight. So we're going door to door, if you will, to try to find the family that helped them in any way we can.
MARCIANO: Often in the scenarios when you do have the shelters open, the people have tried to find friends and family if they can. How many people have been in shelters and how many more do you expect? GARCIA: You know, we -- some of the shelters didn't have anyone show up and some only had maybe a handful, others kind a lot like we have one as open in Cleveland county, that was for the noble fire. That one had up to 50 people in it as one time and we got one for the Luther fire which is in Oklahoma County, just outside of Oklahoma City and that one had about eight.
So, it really depends on what it is, but for people around the country who are watching and they're having a hard time getting in touch with their loved ones you can visit redcross.org/safeandwell. When families are coming into our shelters we encourage them to sign up on this Web site and it's a way of letting family know I'm OK. I'm at this shelter. It's how you are able to let your family know that you are doing OK.
MARCIANO: All right. Ken Garcia with the Red Cross on the scene there in Oklahoma, as the Red Cross always is in these sorts of situation.
Thank you, Ken.
GARCIA: You're welcome.
MARCIANO: While Oklahoma is the latest victim in this hot, dry year, but it has plenty of company in the drought, that's for sure. Look closely at this map. It's the latest version of the drought map, the drought monitor.
Right now more than half of all U.S. counties have been designated disaster zones because of the drought.
Last hour, I spoke with Ernie Goss. He has just been to a new study that shows how the drought is dragging down the economy. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERNIE GOSS, ECONOMICS PROFESSOR, CREIGHTON UNIVERSITY: What we tracked in our two surveys for the month of July is the spilling over to other industries because obviously, when consumers have less money -- spend more on food, they have less money to spend on other factors and we haven't seen all that yet. We'll see it in the months ahead and, in fact, the next -- coming in the latter part of 2012 and 2013.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARCIANO: Estimates of crop losses from the drought have topped $20 billion this year.
Now to the tropics. We had Ernesto yesterday and now we have Florence. Let's break them down first.
Ernesto, the one that may be a threat to the U.S., It has 50 miles in an hour winds, about 260 miles south of the Dominican Republic and will pass through there, no problem. But Jamaica and its sides, Jamaica has a tropical storm warning up.
Here's the forecast track. We expect it to slowly become a hurricane and head toward the Yucatan potentially getting into the Gulf of Mexico by the beginning or middle part of next week, watching that closely.
Florence way out there, just off the Coast of Africa. It has winds of 45 miles an hour and we don't expect any threat to land at least for the next week.
Well the Grammy -- first of all, something new about crime fighting.
You've heard of drones being used in the international fight against terror, now they're being used here at home, but by whom and why?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARCIANO: Well, the manhunt is on for the person who kidnapped baseball hall of famer Cal Ripken's mom. She was returned home safe and sound, but everyone wants to know what was behind it. Cal Ripken explained what happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAL RIPKEN, FORMER BASEBALL PLAYER: Mom was taken at gunpoint from her own house. She was tied up and she was driven around and for what we know right now, from what I know, we don't know why. And so, it's bizarre on many levels and it's unsettling.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARCIANO: Police say at this point they are counting on a tip to crack the case.
Another close call in a U.S. airport, last night a federal official said two airplanes came too close to one another as they were trying to land at an airport in Detroit.
On Tuesday, three U.S. airways operated jets came closer to one another than should have at Reagan national airport because of an air traffic control miscommunication.
Joe Paterno's family plans to appeal the NCAA sanctions against Penn State. It hit the school with a $60 million fine along with a loss of 14 seasons-worth of wins from the legendary coach. The action resulted from the conviction of former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky on the child sex abuse charges there. But there's a problem for the family. The NCAA says its sanctions are not subject to appeal.
We all heard about the use of drones in the war on terror especially in Pakistan, but like it or not, the use of drones, are becoming more widespread in America from everything from agriculture to law enforcement.
Athena Jones has more on the use of drones and the issues it's raising.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Drones are making their way from the battlefield to the home front. The coast guard uses them to conduct surveillance on an ice sheet in Alaska.
IN this 51/2 pound drone developed by the California-based air environment is being marketed to law enforcement.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The systems are really meant to take over the dull, dirty and dangerous jobs and protect citizens' lives. This technology is really kind of the wave of the future.
JONES: Drone makers would it then eventually be used in agriculture, real estate and disaster assessment among other fields. And in an important legal test this week a judge upheld the use of a border patrol drone that helped local authorities in North Dakota with surveillance during the arrest of several members of one family in a dispute over cattle.
A new law requires the federal aviation administration to drop rules from 2018 to fully integrate drones into the national airspace, but the FAA's mission is safety. What about privacy?
Massachusetts democrat Ed Markey is worried the use of drones by the government and eventually private companies could violate Americans' privacy. He is working on federal legislation that would establish rules for how data can be collected and how long it can be kept.
REP. ED MARKEY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: The public should know who controls these drones. They should be able to find out which drone just flew over their house. They should be able to find out what kind of data was collected by that drone.
JONES: Some scholars believe the fears about drones are misplaced.
I think sometimes there's a misconception that we are going to walk out of the grocery store five years from now and look up in the sky and see dozens of drones circling overhead and have to duck to make sure you don't get hit by one. I think the reality is much more subdued by that.
JONES: The future drones in America, is now. New laws and ultimately the courts will decide just how much privacy the people will be allowed to retain.
Athena Jones, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIANO: Well, our Fredericka Whitfield is living it up in London right now. She's at the summer games with her father, Mal, who is a two-time gold medalist. His touching reunion with other Americans 64 years after his Olympian victory coming up.
And if you have to go out today, just reminder, you can continue watching CNN from your mobile phone. You can also watch it here on "CNN live" from your desktop. Just go to CNN.com/TV. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARCIANO: The Olympic Games are as much about defying the odds as they are about winning the gold. And today Oscar Pistorius is a double amputee from South Africa is making history. He's the first athlete to compete in the both Para-Olympics and Olympics.
Our Robin caught up with the one person who has watched his fighting spirit grow from day one.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
ROBYN CURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Images from Oscar Pistorius' athletic career are plastered on the walls of his proud grandmother's home. She tells me in Africans -- I like this one. See, when he goes like this, that's wonderful.
He looks like a winner, doesn't he?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's a winner.
CURNOW: Oscar Pistorius is the first double amputee to compete in the able-bodied games.
OSCAR PISTORIUS, OLYMPIC ATHLETE: We restricted it to the sole like a normal running spike.
CURNOW: Struggling for a child born with such a disability that his family decided to have his legs amputated below the knee when he was 1. Gerti Pistorius remembers that as a child --
The moment you saw him it broke your heart. I'll never forget the first time he got toes on his prosthetics, she says. They came back from Johannesburg and drove through the big gate and he shouted, grandma! Grandma! His feet were sticking out the car window and he said look, I've got toes.
GERTI PISTORIUS, OSCAR PISTORIUS' GRANDMOTHER: Look, I've got toes. I said --
(Through translator): Isn't that wonderful?
CURNOW: In her old age home in (INAUDIBLE), Gerti Pistorius has been planning her trip to London for weeks. Suitcases ready, tickets bought. She'll be there in the stadium to watch her grandson run in the 400-meter relay for South Africa. She says it's going to be emotional.
Both of Oscar Pistorius' grandparents, 89-year-old Gerti and 95-year- old Hendricks normally watch Oscar's races on television, switching channels away from Hendricks' favorite sport, rugby. Both of them know Oscar will be running for his mother. She died when he was 15.
GERTI PISTORIUS (through translator): As he so often says, it would have been so wonderful if his mother could have seen him or he could have experienced her seeing him.
It would have been wonderful. It would have been wonderful.
CURNOW: In the Olympic stadium, Oscar Pistorius, it seem, will not only be propelled by his blades, but also by the memory of his mother and the pride of his family.
That's a massive picture of Oscar.
When you put these up, do you get excited?
It's part of your heart, she says. It's not just putting paper up. You put a piece of your heart, your being and your love for this child on that wall.
Robyn Curnow, CNN, South Africa.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIANO: We have got more heart-warming stories from the Olympics, one having to do with Fredrick Whitfield who is usually sitting right here in this seat. But right now she's enjoying the London games and not just as a fan. She has a very personal connections to the Olympics. Her father, Marvelous Mal, won gold medals in the 1948 and 1952 games. She joined her dad at a London reunion 64 years after his first gold.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What's it like traveling to London with the man known as Marvelous Mal, 64 years after he won two gold and a bronze here in the 800 meters, 4 x 400 relay, and 400 meter races, see for yourself.
Doors open for Olympians like dad, Mal Whitfield, invitations pour in, lots of autographs, pictures and hands to shake.
And especially poignant is meeting up with other fellow 48 others Olympians from the historic games following World War II and the fans of other summer games that followed.
MAL WHITFIELD, 148 AND 1952 OLYMPIAN: I won three medals, two gold, one bronze.
WHITFIELD: 90-year-old bronze long jumper, Herb Douglas.
HERB DOUGLAS, 1948 OLYMPIAN: He was gracious and it was a marvelous beginning and here we are, 64 years later.
WHITFIELD: Stand-out triple jumper Ira Davis from the 1956, '60 and '64 games.
IRA DAVIS, 1956, 1960 AND 1964 OLYMPIAN: These two gentlemen, Mal Whitfield and Herb Douglas were icons in our world when I was coming up. I'm a little bit younger than they are. I'm only 75, but I looked up to them. They were special in my life and to share this moment with them, you can't imagine how I feel.
WHITFIELD: And 1988 Olympic race Walker, Gary Morgan.
GARY MORGAN, 1988 OLYMPIAN: It's always great to reconnect with your fellows to see what they've done and where we both have been and still doing.
WHITFIELD: At 87, dad is in a wheelchair. His legs took a real beating from a career of hard training and competing using less-than- sophisticated equipment by today's measure.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can I get a hug?
WHITFIELD: His words are few in his frail state. Instead, his eyes and smile say everything.
My brother Lonnie and I feel privileged to witness first hand these moments. Dad told us he feels right at home here six decades after setting an Olympic record at Wembley stadium. Together again in their golden years, their memories far from tarnished, their Olympic flame not to be extinguished.
Fredericka Whitfield, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIANO: Good for you, Fred, and congratulations once again to Marvelous Mal, and his other Olympians.
Plus, continuing with the Olympics, the 2012 Olympic Games have been dubbed the world's first social games. Up next check out how twitter has changed the way we experienced summer games.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARCIANO: Social media, it's shaking up the way we're experiencing Olympics in London since most of the events aren't on live TV, twitter and other social networks have become the go-to place to cheer on your favorite athlete or to get live results.
CNN Money's Laurie Segall joins us now to discuss about the twitter effect there in the Olympics.
Hey Laurie, you know, twitter in the news, and we're all junkies about it, but it really has overhauled the Olympics this year, hasn't it? ?
LAURIE SEGALL, CNN MONEY TECH REPORTER: Yes. Rob, this is the first time especially when it comes to primetime and I kind of think we're really seeing the value of something like twitter. I mean, people were finding out the results way before it actually happened, before NBC aired at prime time. That's why you had everybody tweeting #NBCfail. And it was one of the times where you really were able to spot like twitter's growing presence not as just a social network, but something that is really kind a taking place in the media realm. So, I think that was a really important takeaway that we actually had from the Olympics. You know, I spoke to twitter. They gave me some exclusive stats on just how many tweets we were seeing and just the volume of this. They said we had tens of millions of tweets at the Olympics and the sheer volume is just insane. You had 38,000 tweets per minute when U.S. gymnast Gabby Douglas won the gold. You had 37,000 tweets per minute when Michael Phelps won the last gold and 29,000 when the fab five -- 29,000 tweets per minute when the fab five, the U.S. women's gymnastics team won the gold.
So, the conversation really went to twitter when all of this was happening. In the olden days maybe we sat around and we talked about it on the couch, but now people are turning online and they're actually talking about it. And I spoke to twitter and they said this is more than 100 times more the tweet volume than the Beijing Olympics.
So, we really saw that this was kind the break-out social media of the Olympics and it's something that really, at this point, can't be ignored.
MARCIANO: You know, Laurie, for all their good at twitter and facebook, they're pretty dangerous. I mean, you can say something that you regret. Athletes are going to twitter as a forum. In some cases, expressing their frustration and hope solo said some things that were controversial about NBC analyst and former teammate, two Olympic athletes from what I see have been banned. Can you tell me more about that?
SEGALL: Yes. I mean, let's be honest here, we have seen with twitter. Every time we give you - every time you have the ability to express yourself in that 140 characters sometimes you don't realize the impact of what you're saying.
We've seen this with athletes, the politicians. We have seen this in the past quite a bit. And this happened this year with the Olympic. It was the first time we really seen this. Two Olympic athletes, as you said, were sent home from the games because they tweeted things that were deemed racist. You had a man on the Swiss team and a woman on the Greek team who tweeted something about the opponent that a lot of people were very offended by and they took action against that. They said you have to go home so for these people that have been training these years, you know, this were life-changing for them. It was a tweet they shouldn't have sent and they sent out and that was something we saw.
And another thing we saw. You mentioned Hope Solo. She tweeted something. She said she was talking about the commentator of the game and she's a U.S. goalkeeper. She said it's too bad we can't have commentators who better represent the team and know more about the game. So, you know, that commentator happened to be on the Olympics back in the day. So, she got a lot of heat from that tweet. I don't think she realized the impact when she put it out there.
But a lot of athletes actually used it to band together in a positive way. There's something called the 40 rule. And that says that Olympians can't tweet about sponsors, their sponsors, unless they're Olympic sponsors. So for athletes who have sponsors and they make a lot of money for that for them not to be able to go on social media and talk about it. That really bothers them.
Check out this tweet. It's from U.S. track member Nick Simmons, and he said all of this #rule40 BS has me gotten fired up. It's time to go run of some steam.
So, you know, I mean appropriately, he's a track member so he wanted to run off steam. But a lot of people - lot of people or a lot of athlete were tweeting #wedemandchange and people were able to actually see how they really felt where in the past you see them on television and you see them on television and you think I wonder what they're saying? Now you can actually take a look and see it. So, it was definitely a game changer for game.
MARCIANO: Boy, it's opened up a whole can of worms, you know. It's much more difficult now other than the Wheaties box we used to have 20 years ago.
All right, Laurie. We got to jump. Thanks so much, Laurie Segall, finding us about (INAUDIBLE) and social media.
OK. One more story we'll talk about, if you want to find out more about that one, go to CNNmoney.com/technology.
Well this hour, Michael Phelps is swimming his last-ever Olympic race and a live report from London is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARCIANO: Well, Train is a band that sold millions of albums, toured hundreds of cities and won three Grammys. The band members are also taking their music pretty seriously. One of them is a song "marry me."
Well, the band is taking that song to heart. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: By the authority vested in me by the state of Missouri and the church in San Francisco, I now declare you to be husband and wife!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARCIANO: That's the drummer. Yes. Drummer Scott Underwood is now ordained and has started marrying couples at train concerts. I spoke with the members of Train and one of the couples married on stage about the experience.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAT MONAHAN, SINGER, TRAIN: You know, we have had a lot of engagements, either random ones that we didn't know about that would be happening between the crowd and you see this explosion happen, you know, between 100 or 200 people that are watching a man propose on his knee in the crowd or we would get e-mails like, can I do this -- because we always invite people up on stage to do it because it's a very touching moment for thousands of us. You know, watching somebody propose is a very brave thing to do in front of all of us and it's touching and quiet. People will listen intently, and it's so loving and for real, but we never get to see what happens next. And, you know, that's the bummer about it all, is that we want to see what happens next and so Scott, maybe you should take it from here because you're able to legally marry everybody.
SCOTT UNDERWOOD, DRUMMER, TRAIN: Yes. So, yes, our management came up to us and said I have an idea, let's take it to the next step and ordain one of you and marry will people on stage, and actually I didn't think he was 100 percent serious. I said I'll do it.
MONAHAN: The song, it started as being very sincere. It was a 50- second song that we were encouraged to finish, so we did. And I'm so in love with my wife that I can't not write about I want to marry her all of the time because I look at her and I say I can't believe that you said yea to me, really, you know? And that was sincere and these engagements are sincere and what we want is people that really love each other and this is something original, something that no one's ever done before and now I get to do that in this setting because we mean something to a couple like Jim and Jan, and I think that's really how we're looking at.
UNDERWOOD: Jennifer and James. Today you celebrate one of life's greatest moments.
MARCIANO: Why do this in front of thousands of people during a rock concert?
JIM WETHINGTON, MARRIED ON STAGE AT TRAIN CONCERT: Really on a whim. Jennifer is a huge fan and was following it. We planned on getting married next year in Iran. The contest came up so we submitted a video and we won.
MARCIANO: What was your reaction when you found out?
JENNIFER DAUS, MARRIED ON STAGE AT THE TRAIN CONCERT: When we found out?
MARCIANO: When you found out, yes.
DAUS: I called him on the phone, and I said -- oh, my God!
WETHINGTON: She started screaming on the phone which made me completely freak out until I, you know, because I didn't think she was calling to tell me we won. I thought she was calling it tell me something bad happened. I was doing a u-turn and my friend was in the car. He doesn't know what is going on. It was pretty funny.
MARCIANO: How are you can possibly going to top this idea with a honeymoon? What are you going to do?
DAUS: That's a good question.
WETHINGTON: Yea, I don't know. Thanks for the pressure, though.
MARCIANO: All right. I thought you had it all planned out, Jim. Again, it's all about her and these are things need to plan. You know that?
WETHINGTON: Right. When she tells me, I'll go.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIANO: The couple did decide on a honeymoon spot, Lake Tahoe, an excellent choice. If you want to get married at a train concert go to the Web site, savemeSanFrancisco.com for details.
Well, Olympic gold medalist Rebecca Soni set another world record on their way - her way to defending her 200 meter breast stroke gold. No doubt, she has a lot of heart, but a major health problem involving her heart almost kept her out of the pool.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARCIANO: Terrorist will stop at nothing to keep Afghan girls from receiving education, acid attacks, poison water and the daily threat of violence. But this week's CNN hero is fearlessly letting girls learn and giving them a future. Meet Razia Jan.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RAZIA JAN, COMMUNITY CRUSADER: In Afghanistan, most of the girls have no voice. They are used as property of a family. The picture is very grim.
My name is Razia Jan and I'm the founder of a girl's school in Afghanistan.
When we opened the school in 2008, 90 percent of them could not write their name. Today, 100 percent of them are educated. They can read, they can write.
I lived in the U.S. for over 38 years but I was really affected by 9/11. I really wanted to prove that Muslims are not terrorists.
I came back here in 2010. Girls had been the most oppressed and I thought I have to do something. It was a struggle in the beginning. I would sit with these men and I would tell them, don't marry them when they're 14 years old. They want to learn.
How do you write your father's name?
After five years now, the men, they're proud of their girls when they themselves can write their names.
Very good.
Still we have to take this -- some people are so much against girls getting educated. We can provide free education to over 350 girls.
I think it's like a fire and it will grow, every year my hope becomes more. I think I can see the future.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIANO: And remember, all of our heroes come from your nomination. So if you want to have someone you like, tell us about it. Go to CNN.com -- CNNheroes.com, more specifically.
Well, Michael Phelps just finished his last Olympic race of his career. Did he get the -- 22nd -- 22, gold medals or not?
Let's go live to Pedro Pinto. He's at the games.
Well, Pedro, what happened?
PEDRO PINTO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He did it. He finishes his career the way he started it in the Olympics, a gold medal.
MARCIANO: Wow!
PINTO: His 18th of his illustrious career. This man is a machine and we are going to look back on these Olympics one day and at the career of Michael Phelps and think he was probably the greatest Olympian of all time. Whether you think he is or you think he isn't, one thing is for sure, he is definitely the most successful. Twenty two medals overall in his career, 18 gold, two silver, two bronze and he helped the United States win the 4x 100 medley. The race finishing just minutes ago and Michael Phelps was key.
When he swam, the United States was trailing Japan, and he was able to overtake the Asian nation and put the United States in the lead and from then on it was smooth sailing. Michael Phelps has now seen his Olympic career come to an end. And Rob, I tell you, this guy is something special.
MARCIANO: He did it in style, didn't he? A moment in history.
Pedro Pinto, reporting live from London. Thanks, Pedro.
We are going to stick with the Olympics here.
Rebecca Soni is known for her gold medal winning. She is a record breaker, as well in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. But it may surprise you to know that just a couple of years before that swim, she underwent heart surgery. Now, she's back on the scene in London and she has her old record to break.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta has more on Rebecca Soni's amazing story in this week's human factor.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Great swim by Rebecca Soni.
DOCTOR SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): These days, Rebecca Soni is used to getting to the wall first. But being an Olympic swimmer wasn't always part of the plan. REBECCA SONI, OLYMPIC SWIMMER: Just never crossed my mind. When we grew up, my family, we didn't watch a lot of sports. My family was from Europe and we didn't understand the American sports, football, baseball and they just didn't watch very much TV in general. So, I never have those people to look up to and be like oh, I want to be like them.
GUPTA: As she began to excel, she re-focused her goals. But an unexpected obstacle got in her way.
SONI: I was diagnosed with SPT, it was basically a rapid heart rate but only in certain time, usually exercise-induced and all of the sudden, my heart rate would go up to the highest I counted was 400 beats per minute. And it would only last about five minute and I kind lose feeling in my arms and legs. I just climb out of the pool.
GUPTA: Her heart condition required her to take it easy in practice and something that Soni doesn't like to do.
SONI: It would always happen in the greatest part of practice, the most important part.
GUPTA: Six years ago, as the episodes became more frequent, Soni decided to have an operation to remove abnormal tissue from her heart. When she was healthy again, she dove back into training and qualified for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing where she won one gold and two silver medals.
SONI: I definitely feel that I had the meet of my life in 2008 and the race of my life in the 200 breast stroke. To win a gold medal, break a world record all in one race was the ultimate moment of sport.
GUPTA: Even so, Soni wasn't ready to hang up her suit.
SONI: I could have probably walked away and been happy, but I still felt like I have more to give to the sport. I'm just excited to race.
GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARCIANO: We've been telling you about Fredricka Whitfield's London adventure with her gold medal winning dad, but their adventures haven't strictly been sports related. She got an education in afternoon tea.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wow. Here we go.
KATE MAXWELL, JETSETTER.COM: My God. That's gorgeous. What a selection. Wow. Sandwiches with a real twist.
New variation on the cucumber sandwich with asparagus at the top. I love this. Look at this egg sandwich.
WHITFIELD: So pretty.
MAXWELL: With a real egg.
WHITFIELD: Too pretty to eat.
MAXWELL: I know.
WHITFIELD: But we'll eat.
MAXWELL: The caviar. Eat the savory first and then work your way up to the top the tower.
WHITFIELD: OK.
MAXWELL: So, we have sort of fancies right there. It's macaroons. I'm starting from the bottom. I really love cucumber sandwiches. What are you going to go for? Delicious.
WHITFIELD: I think I'll try this cumber because it is just so pretty with the asparagus.
MAXWELL: Right.
WHITFIELD: I'm having one of these. Do I just grab it off the plate?
MAXWELL: Yes. Serve the tea. Thank you. All right.
WHITFIELD: Lovely.
MAXWELL: Can I give you some milk?
WHITFIELD: Yes.
MAXWELL: Is that enough?
WHITFIELD: Yes. That's perfect.
MAXWELL: OK.
WHITFIELD: And so, that is just an issue of preference -- color?
MAXWELL: Yes, exactly.
WHITFIELD: All right.
MAXWELL: And then obviously, you stir your tea but you're not supposed to do it too vigorously.
WHITFIELD: No clanked clank.
MAXWELL: No.
WHITFIELD: Tea etiquette. MAXWELL: And then, apparently you are supposed to place your spoon on the other side of your saucer in the same direction as the handle of the cup. That's better. Thank you. Never put your pinky out when you're drinking tea.
WHITFIELD: Strong.
MAXWELL: Right. You can smell the smokiness.
WHITFIELD: You can. It's actually making me hungry. It makes me think of smoked salmon.
MAXWELL: A really unusual taste. Do you like it?
WHITFIELD: I do.
MAXWELL: That's good.
WHITFIELD: OK.
MAXWELL: All right, a sticky puff there.
WHITFIELD: Wow.
MAXWELL: Mine's got black current jam in the middle. What's yours?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARCIANO: As the presidential election nears, all eyes will be on the monthly jobs report until then. We just learned that 160,000 jobs were added in July and for one California man who has been out of work for four years, news like this couldn't come soon enough.
CNN's Kyung Lah has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The start of the day and a new, full-time job for Ernie Casillas. These first steps on the Los Angeles airport tarmac have been nearly four years in the making.
How long were you unemployed?
ERNIE CASILLAS, LOST JOB IN MORTGAGE INDUSTRY: I'm going on four years November 6th.
LAH: Four years.
CASILLAS: Yes.
LAH: Barack Obama started his new job as president a short time after Casillas lost his job making big bucks as a mortgage broker. CNN met him as a subprime mortgage crisis wreaked havoc on the economy and his own career. CASILLAS: Driving expensive cars, cars having an expensive suit. I mean, just like everybody else is. It humbles you.
LAH: He not only lost his job but his home and his marriage. He moved in with his mother. Casillas went to job fairs and networks sending out hundreds of resumes. He started his own computer consulting company but it never took off. Increasingly desperate he put this ad on facebook stating, bluntly, I need a job. Last year, still unemployed, he hit downtown Los Angeles carrying a sign.
CASILLAS: I am so tired of collecting unemployment.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just think there are a lot of us walking here who know we're not that far away.
LAH: Last week he was at rock bottom.
CASILLAS: I had something to eat. I didn't have money for gas. I looked under my car seat and I had $1.65.
LAH: That paid for the gas that took him to meet Anna Rosales and she gave him a job as a supervisor for her cleaning company, nearly contracted at LAX.
ANNA ROSALES, CEO, AVOR INC.: He deserves it. Everyone deserves to work. Have you ever been unemployed and not able to pay a bill? There is a whole lot of Ernie's out there.
LAH: As the next presidential election looms with the economy as a defining issue, Casillas says political intentions may surprise you. Who are you going to vote for?
CASILLAS: Obama.
LAH: Why not vote for Mitt Romney?
CASILLAS: I don't think he's with the people. He is the person that we can - for.
LAH: Casillas says Obama less distasteful than Romney, deserves more time. He says his long jobless ordeal showed him there is no easy path out of unemployment and no quick fix for the country's sluggish economy.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
