A victory in these Olympics would make him the oldest man to win an individual gold in swimming.
Advertisement
Michael Phelps of the United States won the 200-meter individual medley on Thursday night to capture the 22nd gold medal of his career and become the first swimmer to win the same event at four consecutive Summer Olympics.
Phelps finished nearly two seconds clear of Japan’s Kosuke Hagino, with China’s Shun Wang taking bronze.
“Ryan Lochte is going for his 13th career medal, saving the best for last”, said Friedman.
Pereira led at the end of the opening butterfly leg but faded to seventh. China’s Wang Shun took bronze.
Despite winning four golds in London in 2012, Phelps has said he was dissatisfied with his preparation and results there and wants to bow out on his own terms. He entered, then scratched from, the 100-meter and 200-meter freestyle at the Olympic Trials. But if you were watching in Canada, you may have been led to believe that Ryan Lochte took the gold. It’s the first day of the women’s heptathlon.
Neither one of them made the podium by themselves. Lochte has won every world championships 200 since 2009 and holds the world record of 1:54.00. Bronte was second at the flip and slid to fourth at the finish.
Murphy extended American dominance of the backstroke events, which goes back to 1992. Russia’s Evgeny Rylov was third in 1:53.97.
Missy Franklin finished 14th in the semifinals of the women’s 200 back – beating out only two other swimmers.
Friday’s final could be the last individual race for the most successful Olympic athlete of all time, and the last duel with Le Clos, providing both qualify.
This time, she was limited to a single gold, which came for swimming the preliminaries of the 4×200 freestyle relay. Franklin failed to even make it to the final of her two individual events.
Rie Kaneto, of Japan, won the women’s 200-m breaststroke. The winning time was 2:20.30.
Efimova was 1.67 seconds behind, leaving the Russian with another silver medal.
“I saw Simone s name and I thought I came second, then I saw Olympic record by both names and I thought: That s insane, no one ties at the Olympics”.
First he tied an ancient sports record at the Rio Olympics.
This was touted as the last showdown between two of America’s greatest swimmers, though there’s never been any question about which one had the upper hand.
What Michael Phelps did on Thursday night will not go down as his most exciting or most memorable accomplishment. They’ll wait for the drawing of lots to find out their opponent in the round of 16. It wasn’t just the fact of the gold medal; it was how he won it, separating himself from the field with what historically had been one of his weakest strokes, the breast. “It was the first time in my life it’s ever been like that”, he said.
Advertisement
USA’s Michael Phelps competes in a Men’s 100m Butterfly heat during the swimming event at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. He opened defense of his Olympic title in the 100-meter butterfly by qualifying fourth fastest in 51.60 seconds on Thursday.
