Samuel Mikulak of the United States competes on the pommel horse during the men’s team final on Day 3 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Rio Olympic Arena on August 8, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
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In London, Phelps miss-timed his touch on the 200 meter butterfly, and le Clos took home gold.
Phelps is a 22-time Olympic gold medalist, and he’s up to 26 overall medals in his career. Phelps erased the bad memories from his loss in the same race in London to South African Chad le Clos, who was fourth on Tuesday.
Then, he’ll close out these Olympics in the 4×100 medley relay.
But Phelps has already won three gold medals in Rio and is not finished yet.
Phelps now has 25 medals in all, and three more races in the Summer Games in Rio to add to his nearly incomprehensible total.
Phelps, however, started too slowly, hitting the 50-meter turn in sixth place.
The answer is the exact reason why he is Michael Phelps and has won more medals than many nations have combined to win in their Olympic history. “So being able to share that one moment that I had with him, definitely very special”, he said with his voice quivering. Phelps, like all of us, has felt mechanical at some point in his life – the only difference being that his boredom came after winning 18 Olympic gold medals.
Phelps has dominated the 200m IM at the Olympics, having won it in every Games since Athens in 2004.
“That was probably one of my most challenging doubles”, Phelps said. “I wanted that race back”.
Phelps could also be poised to compete in the 200m butterfly semifinals, depending on how he fares in the prelims.
And there was Schooling, who swam the top qualifying time and beat Phelps in the 100 butterfly in Austin, Texas, on June 3, and who grew up transfixed by Phelps’ races.
“That event is kind of like my bread and butter”, Phelps said.
Meanwhile, Ippei Watanabe set an Olympic record in the men’s 200-meter breaststroke, clocking 2:07.22, breaking the previous record by 0.06 in the semifinal. It came on a night that American teammate Katie Ledecky picked up her second gold of the Rio Olympics on the way to what could be a historic run of her own in the pool. If you like watching the best swimmer in the world scrap for victory in her most challenging event, she did that in the 200 freestyle. Franklin failed to even make it to the final of her two individual events.
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“I am really looking forward to it, I can’t wait”, Bronte said.
