Both Phelps and Ledecky have dominated in the pool but it was the main man who commanded the attention after exorcising his demons of yesteryear.
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Not all the American stars were winners Tuesday, though.
In one of the marquee events, Biles and her four USA teammates lived up to the sky-high expectations and dominated the women’s team competition.
Rio de Janeiro – “He is just a normal person”, Russian Alexander Sukhorukov said back in 2008, trying to put Michael Phelps into historical perspective.
Phelps will actually have two chances for gold on Tuesday.
The rivalry seeds between Phelps and le Clos were planted four years ago at the London Olympics when le Clos beat Phelps for the gold medal by five-hundredths of a second.
Lochte swam the anchor leg of the 4×200-meter relay, helping the U.S.to a comfortable win in its preliminary heat.
Phelps’ win brought him his 20th gold medal and, if his triumphant victory pose was any guide, a particular sense of satisfaction. Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden claims the silver and Emma McKeon of Australia takes the bronze. No one can tell how promising Ledecky is because she has more to offer than what she can do now.
The U.S. remained on top until the 90th – and final – minute of regulation when Colombia’s Catalina Usme scored her second goal, this one on a free kick.
Katie Ledecky picked up her third medal and second Olympic gold of the Rio Games on Tuesday night with a victory in the women’s 200-meter freestyle final.
She can become the first Olympian since Debbie Meyer in Mexico City in 1968 to sweep the 200m, 400m and 800m freestyles.
Katinka Hosszu is having quite an Olympics, too.
Ledecky knew this was the most vulnerable of her three individual events.
DiRado won the bronze in the women’s 200-meter individual medley on Tuesday at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
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.
A day after USA women took gold in the team finals, the men’s individual all-around final is held. Their night was capped by Simone Biles with a boundary-pushing floor exercise that showed just how far ahead they are of everyone else.
Biles was joined by Aly Raisman, Laurie Hernandez, Gabby Douglas and Madison Kocian. But national team coordinator Martha Karolyi isn’t taking anything for granted.
“It’s nearly like you get mad when that happens, and I kind of swim better when I’m mad, so I kind of just dug deep and knew I only had a 25 left”. He went on to win the silver medal after falling to Russia’s Khasan Khalmurzaev in the gold medal contest.
At Maria Lenk Aquatics Center, there was more buzz on social media over the color of the water than the diving competition.
The Royal Netherlands Gymnastics Association says Van Gelder, a former world champion on the rings, left the athletes’ village on Saturday night and has admitted drinking alcohol before returning early Sunday.
Chen Ruolin and Liu Huixia didn’t seem to care what color it was.
“The freestyle has always been like the worst event for me”, Sjostrom said. Williams looked out of sorts and irritated, accumulating 37 unforced errors.
There was one other indicator of her humanity.
Her superstar pedigree isn’t in any doubt.
“I have gained a great appreciation as to what a remarkable privilege it is to represent the United States in the Olympics”.
Despite the tie, the US still won the four-team Group G and will advance to a quarterfinal match in the capital Brasilia on Friday.
Host country Brazil played to a 0-0 draw with South Africa.
Brazilian soccer fans have found a new team to cheer – their women. Boos were heard when the Brazil men were held to a 0-0 draw by Iraq.
Phelps announced his retirement after the 2012 Olympics.
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It was Ledecky’s third medal of the games.
