Phelps claimed gold in the men’s 200m butterfly before helping the U.S. to victory in the 4x200m freestyle relay final at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium.
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South Korean fencer Park Sang-young came from behind in the final seconds to snatch gold from a man twice his age, upsetting 41-year-old Hungarian Geza Imre to become the youngest Olympic epee champion in over a century. Within a few hours, the #PhelpsFace meme was all over social media.
If Chad le Clos was trying to get into Michael Phelps’ head on Monday night, it didn’t work. Le Clos in Lane 6. A year ago, the friendship turned into an intense rivalry when le Clos, competing at the world championships in Russian Federation, took offense to Phelps’ comments that the world’s top times in the butterfly events weren’t very impressive. And then raised two index fingers in the air.
Phelps posted a time of 1:53.36, which was enough to hold off a surging Masato Sakai of Japan, whose 1:53.40 was a mere four-hundredths of a second behind Phelps. Hungary’s Tamas Kenderesi claimed the bronze.
He cruised to victory leaving Le Clos training behind in fourth place. “And if I did I was leaving everything in the pool”.
Boomer sat with his mother, Michael Phelp’s fiancee Nicole Johnson, watching his father achieve glory. “It’s wonderful to get another medal”. He then burst into laughter because his friends belted out “O!” during the anthem, a Baltimore Orioles tradition. “I honestly I don’t know at this very moment where that stands”, Phelps said when asked how it compared to some of his other great nights in the pool. But when he decided about a year later to start competing again, the 200 fly was clearly the title he wanted more than any other.
Phelps, who was part of the USA’s 4x100m freestyle relay team on Sunday, has reduced his competition schedule in Rio as he focuses on butterfly and medley events. Great Britain won silver, and Japan bronze. Thirty-one? It’s insane what he has pulled off.
“That event is kind of like my bread and butter”, Phelps said. “I’m just happy I won”.
They include Hungary’s “Iron Lady” Katinka Hosszu’s third swimming gold of the week and American gymnast Simone Biles’ stunning start to her bid for a record 5 Rio golds. Phelps announced his retirement after the 2012 Olympics. “Doing a double like that is a lot harder than it once was”. I really wanted that one back.
In 2014, he announced he was returning to the sport.
The 22-year-old, who was left in tears after bombing out in the 100m final, wasn’t about to die wondering, leading the field out over a fast opening half of the race.
Ledecky scooped her second gold of the Games after holding off a fearless charge from Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom in the women’s 200m freestyle.
Before Tuesday night, the decorated athlete had 19 Gold medals all to himself and an astounding 23 medals total – and now he’s up to 21 and 25 respectively!
Katie Ledecky has never felt such pain. She reigns supreme in her final individual event, the 800 freestyle, which she won at London in 2012.
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“That hurt pretty badly”, she told reporters after the race. I came into the pool tonight with a mission and the mission was accomplished. “I’m just so glad I got my hand on the wall first and it was all worth it”.
