Michael Phelps has taken his gold medal tally to 21 after helping the United States to victory in the 200m freestyle relay and reclaiming his 200m butterfly crown.
Advertisement
The American men have won medals in every single relay in every single Olympics in which they’ve competed, an incredible streak that has now almost survived another Games.
Phelps, who the 200m butterfly final less than an hour earlier, swum the final leg of the race to loud cheers from the packed arena.
Lloyd Burnard is Sport24’s correspondent in Rio de Janeiro for the duration of the 2016 Olympics. He was, in fact, poised to surpass Michael Phelps at the London Olympics, and indeed he won the 400-meter individual medley there.
Lochte holds the world record, which he set in 2011, and Phelps has the Olympic record, set in 2008 in Beijing.
As a squad, the US had the highest score in each of the four events – floor, vault, balance beam and uneven bars.
Katie Ledecky, right, dives into the pool en route to her second gold medal of the 2016 Olympics.
Phelps got his revenge Tuesday in Rio.
“The last 10 meters were not fun”, Phelps said.
In 2012, Phelps lost to Chad le Clos of South Africa, seen here realizing that Monday night’s death stare was just the beginning of Phelps’ payback. Oleksandr Pyatnytsya tested positive for the steroid turinabol and was retroactively disqualified from the London Games and ordered to return his medal, the International Olympic Committee said.
Conor Dwyer led off the race for the U.S., followed by Townley Haas, Ryan Lochte and finally Phelps. Although Lochte will not swim in the same heat as Phelps, the two may fight each other for top spots in Wednesday night’s semifinal.
Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu became the first two-time swimming gold medalist at the Rio Games with a victory in the 100 backstroke. Siobhan-Marie O’Connor of Britain challenged Hosszu all the way but had to settle for silver.
But the rest of his 2012 meet didn’t go as well – a silver and a bronze in two other individual events.
For Phelps, another retirement looms.
This time, he can fade away with the gold he really wanted in the 200 fly.
Advertisement
“That event is kind of like my bread and butter”, Phelps told reporters. “I just did a time he hasn’t done in four years”.
