On Tuesday night, led by Michael Phelps as the anchor, the USA men won the 4×200 freestyle relay – their fourth consecutive gold medal in the event.
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Britain won silver, and Japan bronze.
The final was supposed to be his farewell to the sport, having already announced his intention to retire after the 2012 Games, before later coming out of retirement in 2014.
But the South African could only manage fourth this time, also finishing behind bronze medalist Tamas Kenderesi of Hungary.
But the South African was silenced as his rival led for the last 150 metres to secure the gold medal on Tuesday. “He is a very good racer and he puts it on the line”.
Michael Phelps is the world’s most decorated Olympic athlete with an incredible haul of 21 golds and 25 medals in total throughout a glittering career.
“The last 10 meters were not fun”, Phelps said.
“This is the race I really wanted back”, he said.
Still, Phelps was not done, putting the gloss on a fourth straight American victory 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.
“Going into the finish I said, ‘If I have to take a half-stroke, I’m going to take a half stroke, ‘” Phelps said.
Neethling, who was part of the gold medal-winning SA foursome in the 4x100m freestyle relay in Athens in 2004, took to Twitter to express his thoughts on Wednesday. “To have three golds, it’s unreal”. Siobhan-Marie O’Connor of Britain challenged Hosszu all the way but had to settle for silver.
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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. Bronze went to American Maya Dirado, touching in 2:08.79. The winning time was 1 minute, 53.36 seconds, but that was of little concern. “I’m pretty sure that’s the closest I’ve come to throwing up in the middle of a race”.
