The American crushed fierce rival Chad le Clos to regain his 200 metres butterfly title in a dust-up bristling with tension, celebrating by pointing to the sky and gesturing to the Rio crowd to “bring the noise” – an order they duly obeyed.
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“That was probably one of my most challenging doubles”, the 31-year-old Phelps said.
Le Clos was in the final again, thoroughly inspired himself by his mother and father, both battling cancer and in the stands cheering him on.
World record holder Phelps, the most decorated athlete in Olympic history, clocked 1min 53.36sec to add to his staggering title tally as Japan’s Masato Sakai came through for a surprise silver in 1:53.40. Phelps now has 25 medals in all, and three more races in Rio to add to his nearly unimaginable total.
Helen, who has a one-year-old son called Ernie, with husband Richie Myler could not hold back either.
And Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu also expanded her collection of Rio gold with victory in the women’s 200m individual medley. Allison Schmitt, competing in what is likely the final event of her career, clearly earned one of them with a blistering split time of 1:55.95.
A look at the witty, the wild and the just plain ridiculous in Rio.
Ryan Lochte, the former Port Orange Spruce Creek High and UF standout, has raced with and against Phelps around the world for more than a decade, including at every Olympics since 2004 in Athens, Greece.
His 21st gold came later Tuesday night after swimming the anchor leg on the 4×200-meter relay. Adrian barely qualified earlier in the 16th spot to advance to the semis. I had no idea whether I touched first.
Chilean Ricardo Soto started his global career just eight months ago. All eight finalists have a shot at gold as it is going to be an extremely close race, but watch for Cammile’s closing strength to finish the race strong. It turns out the Classical and Hellenistic-era Greeks mimicked this modern fastidiousness with their own detailed record of events, and Olympic historian and Twitter user Bill Mallon drew our collective attention to this awesome fact.
Up next for Ledecky is the 800-meter freestyle. You can count on veterans Katie Ledecky and Missy Franklin to lead the way!
“You’re always a little bit nervous for your first swim so I’m really glad that that’s out of the way”, Campbell said, adding that she was still adjusting to the afternoon heats/late-night finals schedule.
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In four consecutive Ancient Olympic Games, Leonidas won gold in three different individual events, giving him a total of 12, the same as Michael achieved this week!
