Just over an hour after he cracked up laughing on the victory dais after winning his 20th gold medal, Michael Phelps has claimed his 21st.
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Sure, Phelps hogged the spotlight on this night, but let’s not forget two other very impressive swimmers.
Phelps avenged his defeat at the 2012 London Games by winning the 200-meter butterfly on Tuesday night, holding off Japan’s Masato Sakai by a mere four-hundredths of a second.
There was a quick dash to give his baby son Boomer a victory kiss and then he had to prepare for the relay.
“There was so much emotion and so much build-up for that race over the past four years”.
The win meant that Phelps took back the gold medal from South Africa’s Chad le Clos, who barely beat Phelps in London.
Le Clos was in the final again, thoroughly inspired himself by his mother and father, both battling cancer and in the stands cheering him on.
As the noise grew, Phelps stood tall and asked the crowd for more.
The Phelps gold rush is unlikely to be finished with the 100m butterfly and more relay glory still on the cards. If she stays in the pool as long as Phelps, she could cement her legacy as an all-time great too.
Former swimmer Becky, 28, who picked up two golds at the Beijing Olympics in 2012, has been entertaining viewers all week with her antics alongside Mark and Helen and has even been accused of getting flirty with fellow former swimmer, Mark. That will be on Day 5 of the Olympics.
This was another performance for the ages, but Phelps has done it so many times that nothing else would have been fitting. He set his first world record in the same event a year later.
“My boys from Baltimore were down on the other end, and back in Maryland, we all say “O!” for the Orioles during that part of the National Anthem”. I was just glad to get my hand on the wall first.
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Phelps said he had been prepared to leave “every ounce” in the pool, and strain every sinew. “I took it pretty fast and forced everyone and once I was ahead I was not going to let it out of my hands”.
