Joseph Schooling of Singapore built a big lead in the 100-meter butterfly and easily held off one of Phelps’ patented comebacks, leaving him at 22 gold medals with one race, a relay, left to go.
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Compatriot Ryan Lochte, the current world record holder in the men’s 200m individual medley, was expected to give Phelps a stern test.
The last two swimmers to win joint gold were USA pair Gary Hall and Antony Ervin, who shared the men’s 50-meter freestyle title back in 2000.
Three-peat: Phelps became the only swimmer to win an idividual event at three Olympics by winning the 100 m butterfly in 2012. Thirteen of his golds have come in individual races, the rest in relays. “She’s so versatile; I’ve never seen that before or heard that before”, she says.
Perhaps in another 2,000 years the stories of Phelps and his exploits will be shared around the table given his astonishing record.
Ervin won his first gold at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, tying teammate Gary Hall Jr. for the top spot.
“The Olympics are the pinnacle of our sport and I have to wait another four years to have that moment and I just wanted to enjoy it”, Ledecky said. “I’ve been able to come back and I’ve been able to accomplish things that I just dreamt of”, he said.
Today, he’s one of the greatest athletes of all time. At the medal ceremony, he swayed slightly and breathed deeply, his eyes moist, as he listened to the U.S. anthem.
Then he and mom will have Phelps all to themselves.
Leading at the midway point, Lochte faded to fifth – almost 3 seconds behind the victor.
An Olympics commentator working for Canadian broadcaster CBC suffered embarrassment on Thursday night when he confused Michael Phelps for rival Ryan Lochte.
With the Rio crowd’s excitement mounting, the three turned nearly together after the backstroke, with Lochte just 0.01 seconds ahead.
Lurking in second until the end of the breaststroke third leg of the medley he surged home on the closing freestyle lap to win in 1min 54.66sec.
The 31-year-old legend will compete in the Men’s 100m butterfly final, closing the book on a phenomenal Olympic career. No amount of cajoling, arm-twisting and pleading by his team mates and swimming fans around the world will make Michael Phelps change his mind about retiring after the Rio Olympics.
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