Michael Phelps claimed his 21th Olympic gold medal by winning the men’s 4*200m freestyle relay final at the Rio Olympics on Tuesday.
Advertisement
Because he has won so relentlessly, Phelps has rarely needed to seek retribution. Perhaps this had something to do with the fact that he defeated Chad le Clos, an Olympic swimmer from South Africa.
Earlier he had won gold number 20 with victory in the 200m butterfly.
Between Phelps, Ledecky and Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu, the pool provided some of the most electric moments of the Olympics so far.
Ledecky strode atop the medal podium again with a bright smile after taking gold for winning the 200-meter freestyle. She’s still relatively new to being a world-class sprinter and was considered a co-favorite with Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden. His timing was 0.4 seconds ahead of silver medallist Sakai.
American Katie Ledecky crushed her own world record in the 400 freestyle Sunday night, touching almost 5 seconds ahead of her closest pursuer, and now focuses on the women’s 200 meter freestyle.
The 200 butterfly was more than Phelps’ first individual final of these 2016 Games. It was a chance for him to wipe away one of his few Olympic disappointments.
Maggie Steffens, Courtney Mathewson and Kiley Neushul scored two goals apiece, and Ashleigh Johnson had 11 saves while becoming the first black woman to play water polo for the U.S.in the Olympics.
It may be Phelps’s best event, but he mistimed his finish in London and that allowed le Clos to beat him at the line.
The possibility of a Rio rematch has intrigued the swimming world ever since.
This time, Phelps got the victory in 1:53.36.
That did not sit well with le Clos.
Phelps already had one gold from Rio – his 19th, which came in the 4x100m freestyle relay on Saturday.
The decision indicated Phelps felt bullish about both his fitness and his freestyle stroke.
The 200 fly was the one he really wanted, and it showed.
He came out of retirement in 2014.
Nathan Adrian anchored Team USA to a time of 3:09.92 to end France’s dominance of the event that streches back to the last two world championships and the London Games four years ago. Le Clos finished fourth, and congratulated Phelps. The attention to Phelps and his South African rival before a semifinal race the previous night – look, the oddball is shadow-boxing in the waiting area! – was soap operatic.
Advertisement
It screamed boxing movie more than swim meet, right down to the hooded robe that cast a shadow over Phelps’ grim countenance.
