He put his head in his hands and then motioned at his neck as though he had nothing left to give.
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Once again, the gold medal in the 200-meter butterfly belongs to Phelps. An hour later, he returned to take what amounted to nothing more than a triumphant victory lap in anchoring the 4×200 freestyle relay, the crowd’s deafening roar growing louder with every stroke.
“It’s everything and more than I’d hoped it to be”, said the tiny 19-year-old Texan who has set gymnastics alight with 10 world titles in the past three years.
In the long run, it hardly mattered because the US cruised to a different relay gold medal, giving Phelps his 21st gold medal general.
Ledecky scooped her second gold of the Games after holding off a fearless charge from Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom in the women’s 200m freestyle. “It’s insane to think about”, Phelps said.
With challengers all around, Phelps simply wouldn’t be denied.
“Coming into Rio I didn’t have any Olympic medals so I would have been okay with any colour”, she said.
Under the 2016 Olympics subsection, things got even harsher.
When Phelps saw the “1” by his name, he held up one finger.
Few could blame him after a hard night’s work – but while Phelps may be cooling down, Ledecky is only just getting started.
“It was good to see he was awake”. He said that he “hadn’t really thought about” the possibility that the running track in Rio could be the last time the two greats meet.
That came just after Phelps had stood atop an Olympic podium for the 20th time as the Star-Spangled Banner (or is it “The Ballad of Michael Phelps”) played either for him or a team he was on.
Competing in his fifth and final Olympics, victory was twice as sweet for Phelps after clashing with le Clos in the media since losing to the South African in their epic London tussle. The top-ranked American won’t get a chance to defend the gold she won in London.
“I don’t want him to win and I’m sure he doesn’t want me to win”, said Phelps.
Vision of his game face when confronted by Le Clos in the marshalling yard showed just how much this race meant to him. Hungary’s Tamas Kenderesi took bronze in 1:53.62.
Haas earned the gold in the final, where he helped Conor Dwyer, Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps clock in at the winning time of 7:00.66.
Still, Phelps was not done, putting the finishing touch to an easy win in the 4x200m free, cruising home nearly two and a half seconds ahead of Britain’s James Guy in the swimming equivalent of baseball’s home-run trot around the bases. Having already won an individual medal in the Rio Games, he proved he was ready for the challenge the men’s relay would bring.
STFSTF/AFP/Getty Images USA’s Michael Phelps with his gold medal in the Men’s 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay Final at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium on the fourth day of the Rio Olympic Games, Brazil.
While his younger teammates celebrated their almost three-second victory around him, Phelps sat down, a satisfied, if a bit winded, 31-year-old Olympic legend.
This has been an Olympics of redemption for Hosszu, a long-time star at the world championships who always seemed to come up short on the biggest stage.
The United States is also looking forward to a new era of gymnastics domination with Biles, tipped as the biggest thing since Nadia Comaneci, helping the US women’s team to victory by eight points over Russian Federation.
For Phelps, another retirement looms.
“That event was kind of my bread and butter”.
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The 34-year-old and her sister Venus were earlier knocked out of the women’s doubles, the three-time champions’ first ever defeat together in Olympic competition.
