Phelps and Lochte have been the top two on the podium in almost every 200m IM Olympics and World Championship since 2003.
Advertisement
Lochte turned 32 last week and is non-committal about whether Rio is his last Olympics.
Ryan Lochte was left in his wake every time.
A visual guide of medals won by country during the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. “It’s been a hell of a career”.
Thursday night’s race was the final one between Lochte and Phelps, who have been squaring off in this particular event for 12 years.
He finished second in his semi-final to qualify fifth fastest for Friday’s final. “Whatever I can do in the second one (100 fly) just to make it through is what I’ll do”. Maya DiRado of the United States, who has won gold, silver and bronze at her first Olympics, was third fastest in 2:08.60.
The Rio Olympics will mark the final showdown, so they say, between Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte in the 200-meter individual medley.
Still, she added two more medals to her trophy case, also getting a silver in the 4×100 relay along with Ledecky. I learned the summer before – by out-touching a rival in an upset victory in the 200m IM at the summer league conference championships – that unbelievable finishes were possible: Phelps won the 100m butterfly by 0.01 seconds in Beijing.
It was quite a night for the powerful American team, which picked up two more golds.
Also, Spain’s Mireia Belmonte Garcia finally won her first gold medal after two silvers and a bronze, touching first in the 200 butterfly.
Her fingernails painted red, white and blue, Manuel broke down in tears after her landmark victory in a sport that still struggles to attract people of color.
“I think I used too much energy in the front half and that kind of hurt me towards the end”.
“It’s going to take a ideal performance in order to beat him just because of how tough a competitor he is”, Lochte said.
Neither one made the podium by themselves.
“When you’re in form coming into an event, it’s hard not to think about outcomes”, Cate Campbell said.
Phelps was tied for second place with Pereira after the breaststroke as Lochte surged in the lead. Heading into the race, it was a 24-hour buildup as the last swim-off between two American sports icons.
“My goal was to win one gold”, Murphy said.
“I thought about it the last 50 and that’s what got me home”, he said.
It would seem likely the historic moment will come in the pool or athletics stadium with those two sports accounting for more than half the USA gold production. “Who knows, I might be back”. Evgeny Rylov was the leading qualifier in 1 minute, 54.45 seconds.
This time, she was limited to a single gold, which came for swimming the preliminaries of the 4×200 freestyle relay.
She is her own breed of dominance, smooth and sleek and lethal, particularly in distance events. Specifically, the victory was credited to French swimmer Yannick Agnel, who trounced the US favourite Ryan Lochte. Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom finished third. The winning time was 2:20.30.
Ledecky turned in a split of 1 minute, 53.74 seconds, which was almost 2.5 seconds faster than her next-fastest teammate, Allison Schmitt in 1:56.21.
“Now it’s time for me to take a break, mentally and physically and get back to when I was a little kid having fun again”, explained the former University of Florida star from Daytona Beach. “I’m happy with myself”.
On the fifth night of swimming at the Olympic Aquatic Center, 18-year-old Kyle Chalmers dethroned defending champion Nathan Adrian in the final of the 100 freestyle, the first Australian to be crowned king of speed in 48 years.
Now the world’s most famous mean-mugging has become the world’s best portrait tattoo and the best possible way to show your American patriotism.
Advertisement
“Things started hitting me this morning”, he said.
