With challengers all around, Phelps simply wouldn’t be denied.
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When asked just how unique Katie Ledecky’s talent is, Joyner stated, “She’s a one-in-seven-billion human being because there are seven billion people on earth and she’s right at the top”.
“I’m just thankful, that’s for sure, I wanted that one back”, he said. The Golden Bears are more excited about the collective strength their swimmers have shown at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium.
Both Phelps and Ledecky have dominated in the pool but it was the main man who commanded the attention after exorcising his demons of yesteryear.
Undefeated all year, Khasan Khalmurzaev is now the Olympic champion. “It’s good to see he’s awake”.
However, it was Phelps who hogged the spotlight on Tuesday night by also securing a gold medal – his 20th at the time – in the 200-meter butterfly.
The only thing that mattered was beating everyone else.
Phelps looked back and said, “We have a lot of momentum right now”. “My gosh, I thought I was standing still”. Up on the left is the time Ledecky had to make up – just under a second. “It would be great to have gold, but in this day and age the 100 freestyle is maybe the most fickle event out there”. Ever since then, the Americans have been waiting to defend their title, and they finally got their chance Tuesday as men’s rugby returned to the Games after a 92-year absence. Berta – whom writer S.L. Price describes as a “formidable” woman – once spent a year working as a translator for Albert Einstein at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn.
Phelps retired four years ago, insisting he was done with swimming, only to return for what he calls his real farewell, the one that will send him out the way he really wants to go.
The relay was much less dramatic.
The Americans led throughout, with Conor Dwyer handing over to Townley Haas and Ryan Lochte.
Phelps essentially spent the next 100 seconds or so soaking up the cheers. He touched in 7 minutes, 0.66 seconds, a full body length ahead of Britain’s James Guy.
The British claimed silver in 7:03.13, while Japan took the bronze in 7:03.50.
Oh, and let’s not forget Missy Franklin, the darling of the London Games.
It was a riveting race. through about 80 percent of it. Australia held a near-one-second lead as Ledecky prepared to dive in.
She can become the first Olympian since Debbie Meyer in Mexico City in 1968 to sweep the 200-meter, 400-meter and 800-meter freestyles.
Ledecky said the 200 meters remains a bigger mental challenge than the longer races she cut her teeth on.
Katinka Hosszu is having quite an Olympics, too.
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Ledecky, 19, is now well on her way to joining Phelps on the Mount Rushmore of US swimming having racked up three gold medals in her young career, including two and counting in Rio de Janeiro. When she was asked before the meet began whether a time of 8 minutes flat was possible, she laughed at first, then ultimately refused to rule it out.
