Phelps’ four consecutive golds in the same event are unique for a swimmer, and place him in the same Olympic pantheon as fellow-Americans Al Oerter in the discus and Carl Lewis in the long jump.
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It was another performance for the ages, but Phelps has done it so many times that nothing else would have been fitting.
Phelps now has 25 medals in all, and three more races in Rio to add to his nearly unimaginable total.
For the record, Phelps says he was trying really hard not to look at le Clos. This includes Thursday’s 200, where Phelps claimed yet another gold medal while Lochte finished fifth. Then he sat on a lane rope, egging on the roaring crowd at the Olympic Aquatics Center with both hands, before emphatically pumping his fist.
“I was pretty fired up after that race”, Phelps, 31, said.
“I don’t want him to win and I’m sure he doesn’t want me to win”, said Phelps. With his head almost at the wall, he took one more stroke to make sure he got there first, his arms slamming against the timing pad. “Win or lose, we’re still good friends”.
Phelps clocked one minute, 54.66 for a comfortable winning margin of 1.95 seconds. “The last 10 metres were not fun, oh my gosh”. He took the lead at the halfway mark and had le Clos covered from the start.
It turns out that he’s casually losing himself in the music and the moment, as The New York Times published a profile on the gold medalist, who revealed that his pre-swim playlist includes “a mix of songs from Eminem, Young Jeezy and a more recent addition, Eric Church”. Wang Shun of China finished third.
“The week has gone good so far, and I think I’ll be able to top it off well in the 800”, she said.
The 19-year-old American is the heavy favorite to win the grueling race, which would give her a sweep of the 200, 400 and 800 freestyles for the first time since Debbie Meyers of the U.S.in 1968.
Katinka Hosszu is having quite an Olympics, too.
Olympians Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps could be putting their 12-year rivalry – one that has dominated the world of swimming – to rest after competing in this year’s summer Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro.
This has been an Olympics of redemption for Hosszu, a long-time star at the world championships who always seemed to come up short on the biggest stage.
Meanwhile Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu qualified fastest for the women’s 200m backstroke final on Friday with a time of 2:06.03. Maya DiRado of the United States held on for the bronze.
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“That event was kind of like my bread and butter”, Phelps said. “That was the last time I’ll ever swim it”.
