Michael Phelps is 2-for-2 at the Rio Olympics, winning the men’s 200-meter butterfly final Tuesday night for the 20th Olympic gold medal of his career.
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Phelps claimed gold in the men’s 200m butterfly before helping the US to victory in the 4x200m freestyle relay final at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium.
The most medaled Olympian of all time, now with an unprecedented collection of 25, tore his swim cap in half as he was putting it on just before the start of the day’s final 4×200 meters freestyle relay.
The Belgian Olympic committee says judo competitor Dirk Van Tichelt was hit in the face on Copacabana beach during celebrations of his bronze medal performance. “It’s just insane. It’s mind-blowing”.
Phelps began to climb back down to the pool deck, leaving his family with just two words: “One more”.
“Looking forward to the rest of the week and I’m not even halfway done yet”.
It was the fourth successive US Olympic victory in the event.
His first gold came in the much anticipated men’s 200m butterfly event, which saw the return of Phelps vs Chad Le Clos.
Phelps retired after those Games, as planned, but he returned 18 months later with unfinished business.
“When I came back I said that I wanted the 200m fly”, he said, adding that the realisation that this is his last Olympics was starting to sink in. At 31, he became the oldest swimmer to win an individual event.
“It’s everything and more than I’d hoped it to be”, said the tiny 19-year-old Texan who has set gymnastics alight with 10 world titles in the past three years. “Dammit. I don’t know”. “It’s the closest I’ve come to throwing up at the end of a race”. New Zealand is a 12-time world series champion and one of the top contenders for the first rugby medals awarded at an Olympics in 92 years. “It was a stressful race and I feel good now it’s over”.
“There wasn’t a shot in hell I was losing that tonight”.
When told after the session that cameras had picked up his moves, le Clos seemed surprised.
With the medals on the line, the prizefighters were ready for round two in Tuesday night’s final.
But all the while the big American Phelps had slipped into the lead, showing great strength and technique as his action was smooth compared to Le Clos, who looked a little rushed. But there was no emotional victory this time round.
The Americans touched home in 7 minutes 00.66 seconds. “I wanted to hold him longer”, Phelps said of his baby boy. After a brief delay, he put on a riveting race, finishing with a time of 1:53.36. “I didn’t think I was going to be second”. He had had a huge final turn and pushed, but Phelps and the field overwhelmed him.
Individually, Phelps highlighted the evening.
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At the end of Tuesday night’s swimming session, the United States of America led the Rio 2016 gold medal tally with nine, one ahead of China.
