“This is a race I really wanted tonight”, Phelps said.
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A disbelieving Phelps was still absorbing his achievement as the most decorated Olympian in history, with 25 medals in all, when he targeted further success in his fifth and final Games.
You see Leonidas was a sprinter, perhaps the best of all-time and according to Olympic scholars, until last night held the record with 12 individual wins.
As for the backstory, the 200-meter butterfly is arguably Phelps’ trademark event.
“That was probably one of my most challenging doubles”, the 31-year-old Phelps said of swimming in two finals just an hour apart. Japan took the bronze with a time of 7:03.50, with Australia finishing fourth.
In his absence, le Clos had a strong meet, saying after the 100 butterfly, “I just did a time that he hasn’t done in four years”.
Few could blame him after a hard night’s work – but while Phelps may be cooling down, Ledecky is only just getting started.
“That event is kind of like my bread and butter”, Phelps told reporters.
Phelps made his own gesture after winning back the 200 fly Olympic crown.
Only 70 minutes later, after finding time to give his baby son Boomer a cuddle at poolside following his victory ceremony, Phelps had a much less demanding task to anchor the US men’s relay quartet, starting off with a 10m lead following fine work from Conor Dwyer, Townley Haas and Ryan Lochte.
“I’m gonna keep doing it until I stop having fun”, he said recently.
With the medals on the line, the prizefighters were ready for round two in Tuesday night’s final. He competed against the South African Chad Le Clos.
Debbie Meyer is the only female swimmer to capture the three longest freestyle events at a single Olympics, winning the 200m, 400m and 800m at the 1968 Mexico City Games.
Lochte clocked one minute 57.38 seconds in the afternoon heats, with Philip Heintz of Germany second in 1:57.59 and Phelps third in 1:58.41.
Ledecky captured her second gold medal of the Games after holding off a fearless charge from Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom in an absorbing women’s 200m freestyle final.
Hungary’s Hosszu, who despite five world titles had come away empty-handed from three previous Olympics, won her third gold medal with victory in the women’s 200 individual medley.
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Britain’s Siobhan-Marie O’Connor took silver in 2:06.88. “That 200 fly was really great”.
