After his butterfly preliminary, Phelps turned his attention to tonight’s 200-meter individual medley final, which will feature perhaps the final chapter of his eternal rivalry with Ryan Lochte.
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First he tied an ancient sports record at the Rio Olympics. Phelps broke a 2168-year-old Olympic Record with 13 individual gold medals.
There was a stunning upset in the women’s competition as Australian world record-holder Cate Campbell inexplicably flopped in the 100m freestyle, but there was no escaping Phelps as he romped to his fourth gold of the Rio Olympics.
Phelps stormed to his fourth straight 200-meter individual medley Olympic gold medal on Thursday night, beating his closest competitor by nearly two seconds, while Lochte failed to medal, finishing fifth.
Friends and rivals Phelps and Lochte will be competing for the same medal. “But at the same time I love a challenge, and that’s why I do the events that I do and going up against him is a challenge”.
On August 9, Phelps won his 21st gold medal in 4*200 m freestyle relay with Conor Dwyer, Townley Haas.
As Lochte points out with Frazier, his track record predicting Phelps’ return to the pool is pretty good.
Lochte’s recurring thought: He believes teammate Michael Phelps will go to Tokyo for the 2020 Olympics.
Phelps finished with an unofficial time of 1:54.66.
“I just don’t see it happening”, Bowman said.
Phelps begins his quest for a fourth straight Olympic gold in the 100-meter butterfly.
Racing against US teammate Ryan Lochte, Phelps posted a time of 1:54:66, pulling well away late and sealing his 22nd career gold medal and 26th overall.
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Thursday’s dead heat came in the women’s 100m freestyle final, in which USA swimmer Simone Manuel and Canada’s Penny Oleksiak both finished in an Olympic record of 52.70 seconds. “I’m kind of bummed but I gave it my all and that’s all you can ask”. They’re both racers who bring out the best in each other.
