“It was going through the last 16 years”, said Phelps when asked what he was thinking on the podium. “Doing a double like that is a lot harder than it once was”.
Advertisement
For Ledecky, the result nearly qualifies as a photo finish; her speed has often appeared unmatchable at the longer distances in which she dominates.
The American men have won medals in every single relay in every single Olympics in which they’ve competed, an incredible streak that has now almost survived another Games.
It was Phelps’s third gold of the week – he had helped the U.S. to the 4x100m freestyle relay gold on Sunday – and he has three more chances to add to his stunning haul.
No other Olympian has more than nine golds.
“That’s a lot of medals”, Phelps said, shaking his head. “I’m just so glad I got my hand on the wall first”. “That was one of my goals”, she said. “It’s good to see he’s awake”.
The only thing that mattered was beating everyone else.
Twitter had its fun with the #PhelpsFace, but it was Phelps who truly had the last laugh. “My gosh, I thought I was standing still”.
Lochte joined with Phelps, Jack Conger and Conor Dwyer to finish with a time of 7:00.66.
Phelps, who had announced his retirement after London but launched a comeback in 2014, then celebrated by climbing into the stands to embrace his fiancee Nicole and kiss his baby son Boomer.
“I’m just thankful, that’s for sure, I wanted that one back”, he said.
But the 31-year-old American powered home to win in a time of 1:53.36 to avenge his London defeat to Le Clos and add yet another gold to his personal career tally.
But the South African could only manage fourth this time, finishing behind bronze medalist Tamas Kenderesi of Hungary.
The relay was much less dramatic. In addition to the gold for Phelps and relay teammates Townley Haas, Ryan Lochte, and Conor Dwyer, Katie Ledecky out-touched Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden for gold in the women’s 200m freestyle, and the #FinalFive ladies of the women’s gymnastics team -Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas, Laurie Hernandez, and Madison Kocian- cruised to gold over second-place Russian Federation by more than eight points.
Phelps essentially spent the next 100 seconds or so on a victory lap, the crowd’s cheers growing louder with each stroke. US finished in 7:006.66 ahead of Great Britain in 7:03.13 and Japan in 7:03.50.
Great Britain won silver and Japan took bronze.
Phelps will actually have two chances for gold on Tuesday.
On Tuesday night in Rio de Janeiro, American swimmer Michael Phelps won his 20th and 21st Olympic gold medals.
Team USA has won the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay on 17 occasions at the Olympic Games, a record for most wins by one country in a single swimming event.
His majestic display came on a day that Hungary’s “Iron Lady” Katinka Hosszu took her third gold of the week while American gymnast Simone Biles made a flying start to her bid for a record five Rio Olympic golds. Her previous triumphs came in the 100m backstroke and 400m IM.
Advertisement
Britain’s Siobhan-Marie O’Connor took silver in 2:06.88.
