The United States won the men’s 4 x 200 metre freestyle relay on Tuesday, with Michael Phelps swimming the anchor leg to take his 21st gold medal.
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Although the 4×200 relay was a massive win for the USA, this win marks a 25th career medal for Michael Phelps, who became the most decorated Olympian in the Rio Games.
The 200 metres butterfly was the first race he swam at an Olympics, at Sydney in 2000, and the gold that got away – the one he wanted back after being beaten by a fingertip at the 2012 London Games by South African Chad Le Clos.
Ledecky held off Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom to win the 200 freestyle and give the American star her second gold of the Rio Games.
In the 4×200 relay Phelps’ American teammates Conor Dwyer, Francis Haas, and Ryan Lochte handed him a healthy lead that he would not relinquish.
However, Michael Phelps was able to hold on to his lead and touch the wall first, winning his second gold medal at Rio 2016 and his record 20th gold medal for his career.
Hungary’s Tamas Kenderesi took home the bronze ahead of le Clos, who ran out of steam and finished fourth.
Phelps’s victory over Le Clos – the South African finished fourth – must have been a sweet feeling after his rival had publicly stated that he meant to break the American’s butterfly world records in Rio. The Americans extended their streak to four straight gold medals with the event, winning by three-plus minutes with Great Britain taking the silver medal.
Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu landed her third gold with victory in the women’s 400 individual medley, beating Madeline Dirado of the USA (4:31.15) and Mireia Belmonte Garcia of Spain in (4:32.39) a new world-record time of 4:26.36.
“There wasn’t a shot in hell I was losing that race”, he added.
“Coming to Rio, I didn’t have any Olympic medals so I would have been OK grabbing any color of medal”, said Hosszu.
Phelps now has 25 Olympic medals including 14 individual gold, which ties him for the record with Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina. Australia’s Emma Mckeon took bronze.
Ledecky scooped her second gold of the Games after holding off a courageous charge from Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom in the women’s 200m freestyle.
This is the third gold medal in 200 fly in Phelps’ career (Athens, 2004; Beijing, 2008).
“That was a really tough race and it hurt really badly”, Ledecky said.
Ledecky knew this was the most vulnerable of her three individual events.
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“That event was kind of like my bread and butter, and that was the last time I’ll ever swim it”.
