Team USA has won the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay on 17 occasions at the Olympic Games, a record for most wins by one country in a single swimming event.
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Phelps did not overtly acknowledge le Clos’ antics on Monday, and I thought he’d made a decision to take the high fjord.
Green, not gold, was the colour of the day at the Olympic diving venue.
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.
After the Americans lost the 4x200m freestyle relay to the British at the world championships past year, this was one they wanted to get back.
It’s worth noting that, after he was done strutting his stuff, Phelps did go out of his way to acknowledge le Clos, embracing him in the pool. “Doing a double like that is a lot harder than it once was”.
It was another performance for the ages, but Phelps has done it so many times that nothing else would have been fitting.
The Americans touched home in 7 minutes 00.66 seconds.
Phelps will actually have two chances for gold on Tuesday.
But after Rio, Phelps says he’s calling it quits for good. “I race to win and I want to beat Michael”.
With challengers all around, Phelps simply wouldn’t be denied. “I’m just so glad I got my hand on the wall first and it was all worth it”. Phelps swam the anchor leg.
“I wanted to hold him longer”, he said. “He usually sleeps all the time”. “My gosh, I thought I was standing still”.
Le Clos, whose run-up to the Games was overshadowed by news that both his parents had cancer, finished fourth.
He will face challenges from South Africa’s Chad le Clos, who took gold in the 200m butterfly in London in 2012, as well as Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh, who medaled in two of Phelps’ best events at the 2015 World Championships while Phelps was serving his DUI suspension. “That was such a tough race”, she explained. And how did le Clos do?
First off, Phelps led the 200 fly from the halfway mark and would not be caught, finishing in a time of one minute 53.36 seconds.
The relay was much less dramatic.
Phelps returned to the pool just over an hour after his individual triumph to compete in the relay alongside U.S. team-mates Conor Dwyer, Francis Haas and Ryan Lochte.
Phelps essentially spent the next 100 seconds or so soaking up the cheers.
Britain won silver, and Japan bronze.
Only 70 minutes later, after finding time to give his baby son Boomer a cuddle at poolside following his victory ceremony, Phelps had a much less demanding task to anchor the US men’s relay quartet, starting off with a 10m lead following fine work from Conor Dwyer, Townley Haas and Ryan Lochte.
Phelps is now the oldest swimmer to take gold in an individual event in Olympic men’s swimming history.
Ledecky’s win on Tuesday in the 200-meter freestyle wasn’t as dramatic as Sunday’s 400-meter freestyle, in which she broke her own world record.
Katinka Hosszu is having quite an Olympics, too.
Katie Ledecky, leading the new generation of American swimming stars, captured her second gold of the Games by holding off a fearless charge from Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom to take the women’s 200m freestyle final in 1:53.73. Her previous triumphs came in the 100m backstroke and 400m IM.
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Britain’s Siobhan-Marie O’Connor took silver, with Maya DiRado of the US winning a bronze to add to her silver in the longer distance.
