Phelps became the first ever Olympian to win an astonishing 20 gold medals in just 5 Olympic game.
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Phelps was in Lane 5.
Le Clos, whose run-up to the Games was overshadowed by the devastating news that both of his parents had been diagnosed with cancer, finished fourth.
You may have missed the memo, but Phelps actually retired following London 2012, but he decided enough most definitely wasn’t enough as he came out of retirement recently to defend his titles at the Rio 2016 Olympics, and he’s done exactly that. And then raised two index fingers in the air. “I felt like I was standing still”, Phelps said. There wasn’t a shot in hell I was losing it.
“Michael Phelps is awesome”, Malchow said that day. He then burst into laughter because his friends belted out “O!” during the anthem, a Baltimore Orioles tradition. “Took me right back to Camden Yards”. They led at every split. Thirty-one? It’s insane what he has pulled off.
“Looking forward to the rest of the week and I’m not even halfway done yet”.
Hey, I wouldn’t question that, Michael.
Another entry drew a curtain on Le Clos’ swimming career‚ which “came to an end during these Olympics‚ as Michael Phelps stuffed him into a locker and stole his lunch money”. “It’s just Michael. I’m not surprised”.
Yet South Africa’s Chad le Clos outreached Phelps by 0.05 seconds in London four years, in one of the most dramatic races at those games.
But nothing could beat Tuesday night’s dramatic action in the pool, with Hosszu completing the individual medley double by winning the 200m final in an Olympic best 2:06.58. But Phelps said that was also the last time he would race it.
In 2014, he announced he was returning to the sport. He initially said he wouldn’t race the 200-meter butterfly but later changed his mind.
His confidence is soaring after he turned in a time of 47.12 seconds in the relay, which was faster than all but three other swimmers in the field – all of them anchors on the medal-winning teams and specialists in the 100 free.
By the finish, le Clos wasn’t even on the podium. “Having the 2012 200 fly, once I watched it, it kind of stuck with me. Next year is going to be Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier”. Instead, he stood tall and strong in the pool after securing his 20th and 21st gold medals, as if to say “no one can match me – ever”.
Le Clos, who won a 200m freestyle silver on Monday, reacted fastest than Phelps at the start but it was Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh who led at the turn with Phelps second and Le Clos third.
After Sarah Sjostrom beat Katie Ledecky in their semifinal it didn’t look as though Ledecky would be able to continue her streak of never losing an individual event in an worldwide final. It came on a night that American teammate Katie Ledecky picked up her second gold of the Rio Olympics on the way to what could be a historic run of her own in the pool.
The British claimed silver in 7:03.13, while Japan took the bronze in 7:03.50.
Chinese weightlifter Deng Wei won the women’s 63kg category with a world record after Taiwanese rival Lin Tzu-chi pulled out amid reports of a failed dope test. She crushed the world record in the 400 and everyone expects her to do the same in the 800.
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This was expected to be her toughest individual race. With his head almost at the wall, he took one more stroke to make sure he got there first, his arms slamming against the timing pad. I couldn’t have scripted it better. I felt like we had to give him that chance.
