In nine Olympic relays to that point, it was just the second time Phelps hadn’t taken gold.
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In 2008, the Americans memorably defeated the French when Jason Lezak rallied against Alain Bernard with the fastest 100 split in history, a victory that kept Phelps on course to win a record eight gold medals in Beijing. “As one of the old guys, it is pretty cool to see”.
United States’ Michael Phelps celebrates after winning the gold medal in the men’s 4×100-meter final during the swimming competitions at the 2016 Summer Olympics, Monday, Aug. 8, 2016, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. And later smiled as the Olympic gold medal, the 19th of his career, was placed around his neck. The sophomore at North Carolina State didn’t make the usa team in an individual event, so getting the chance to swim the relay final with veterans Adrian and Phelps was huge.
Phelps set an American record for the 100 freestyle on the opening leg, but the USA lost its lead on the third leg, and anchor Jason Lezak was a body length behind Alain Bernard of France as they turned for the final 50 meters.
-Elisabeth Beisel of United States of America placed 6th in the final for the women’s 400m individual medley.
If she wins all three, Ledecky – who also won a silver in the 4×100 freestyle relay on Saturday – will be the first women to achieve the feat since American Debbie Meyer at the Mexico City Olympics in 1968. If you haven’t watch Ledecky compete, you have to seize this final opportunity to do just that.
While Biles will be the heavy favorite and star attraction at the all-around final, one of the biggest stories heading into the final is surrounding 2012’s gold medal victor, Gabby Douglas.
But the sportsmen and women haven’t undergone cupping just so they can feel like celebs in the run up to their big Olympic moment; it’s apparently supposed to increase blood flow and therefore improve their performance.
Still, Serena is looking to capture her second – and second consecutive – gold medal in Rio. The women will compete in the 100m backstroke and 100m breaststroke, while the men will battle in the 100m backstroke and 200m freestyle.
Van der Breggen’s victory, however, was shadowed by the crash of her team mate Annemiek van Vleuten, who flew over her handlebars with 11 kilometers to go in the race. Phelps swam a terrific opening leg, and then had to watch anxiously for almost three more minutes.
The 31-year-old Phelps – who has now won 19 gold medals – roared with delight and hugged his team-mates after they came home ahead of defending champions France in silver, with Australia third.
The Americans had failed to reach the final in the event previous year at the world championships with Phelps on the sideline. “To stay on top of the world for that many Olympics is something that most of us couldn’t even dream of”.
“They were making us cry”, Phelps said.
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“It’s always great to see a fairy tale like that unfold in a race you are part of”. Also on their schedule this week – Wednesday against Australia (6 p.m. ET), Friday against Serbia (6 p.m. ET) and finally, Sunday against France (1:15 p.m. ET).
