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Michael Phelps now has 21 Olympic gold medals, more than 150 countries

In an unforgettable display of Olympic power, Michael Phelps won two more finals to take his historic all-time record load to 21 golds and cement his legendary status. Hence the exquisite tension as he prepared to meet South African Chad le Clos in the 200-meter-butterfly final Tuesday night. Then, during the customary stroll around the pool to pose for photographers, Phelps broke ranks and bounded into the stands to plant a kiss on Boomer, the son who symbolizes just how much Phelps’ life has changed since a second drunken-driving arrest two years ago. In the 200-metre event he clocked 1:53.36, while in the relay, the team finished at 7:00.66.

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Phelps, who now is the most decorated Olympian of all time also brought his career tally to a total of 25 medals including two silver and two bronze.

Ledecky crushed her world record in the 400m freestyle to win gold and jump-start a potentially historic Rio campaign on Sunday.

Earlier, In the 200-meter butterfly finals, Phelps avenged his defeat at the 2012 London Games by winning the 200-meter butterfly on Tuesday night, holding off Japan’s Masato Sakai by a mere four-hundredths of a second, making up for one of the few losses in his Olympic career. And then another Hungarian, Tamas Kenderesi, asserted himself by swimming the fastest semifinal time. Once I was ahead I knew I wasn’t going to let it out of my hands.

Leonidas, a runner who competed between 164 and 152 BC according to Olympic historians, is the only other athlete to have won 12 solo titles. “I came into the pool on a mission and the mission was accomplished, but the last 10 meters were not fun”. Ledecky surged, Sjostrom faded – “I didn’t think I was going to be as close as I was”, she said, “I was actually surprised” – and the luck of the USA men’s basketball team cast itself upon Ledecky again.

Britain’s Siobhan-Marie O’Connor took silver in 2:06.88.

Le Clos has become an Olympic villain of sorts, at least as far as United States swimming fans are concerned.

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Britain’s Siobhan-Marie O’Connor took silver, with Maya DiRado of the US winning a bronze to add to her silver in the longer distance. “It’s the closest I’ve come to throwing up at the end of the race”. Fifth at the first flip turn, a bit faster than she usually goes out, Ledecky powered to the front on the third lap and grittily shooed off a hard-charging Sjostrom coming to the wall. After a brief delay, he put on a riveting race, finishing with a time of 1:53.36.

US women relay