RIO DE JANEIRO-Michael Phelps of the United States won the Olympic 200 meters individual medley on Thursday to capture the 22nd gold medal of his career and become the first swimmer to win the same event at four consecutive Games.
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After the anthem was over, Phelps – who after all, is the most senior veteran of medal ceremonies – orchestrated the photo op with Shun and Hagino, gesturing them to step up on the top podium with him.
NAN recalls that former Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina has nine.
Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom also crept by her to take bronze to complete her collection after winning gold in the 100m fly and silver in the 200m free. This will likely be the final time these two compete, as Phelps has said he’s all but assuredly done with competitive swimming after these Games.
Phelps is finally retiring after these games, where he has already won his 20th and 21st gold medals.
Phelps returns for for the heats and semi-finals of the 200m individual medley. The clock is ticking down on Phelps, who races five more times before hanging up his suit at age 31. With the win, Manuel became the first African-American woman to win gold in swimming. Cate was under her own world-record pace at the turn, but had nothing coming back and fell all the way to sixth. He’s the toughest competitor and racer I’ve ever had to go up against.
Campbell and her younger sister, Bronte, were hoping to battle for gold after teaming up to lead Australia to a victory in the 4×100 free relay.
Three days after winning the 100 back, Murphy touched first again in 1:53.62.
The 25 Olympic medals that Phelps has collected in the games is more than any other athlete in Olympic history.
“Anytime I can be on a relay – whether it’s morning, night, in practice, whatever it is – it means the absolute world to me”, said Franklin, who didn’t even qualify for the final of the 200 freestyle and has only one individual event left after the relay.
“I saw Simone’s name and I thought I came second, then I saw “Olympic record” by both names and I thought: ‘That’s insane, no one ties at the Olympics'”.
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As usual, Phelps pulled off the grueling double, advancing to Friday night’s final with the fifth-fastest time.
