On Wednesday, she continued her winning streak, giving Team USA their only gold medal win in what was an unusually disappointing performance in the pool that night.
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The win brought Phelps his 22nd gold medal, and his 26th over all.
“This is it. I’m swimming how I want to and this is a great way to finish”, he told NBC.
Lochte had only beaten Phelps head-to-head in an Olympics race once: The 400-meter individual medley four years ago at the London Olympics. Lochte didn’t even reach the podium this time, fading to fifth after leading at the midway point. “He and I have been racing since 2004 together, and I think when we race each other, we bring each other to a different level”.
“Whenever I hear the national anthem there are so many memories always going through my head and pretty much every time I hear it I’m in tears”.
But Phelps was in a league of his own.
Phelps won his 21st career Olympic gold medal on Tuesday night in the 4x200m freestyle relay.
Then, he’ll close out these Olympics in the 4×100 medley relay.
Phelps finished with an unofficial time of 1:54.66.
It was quite a night for the powerful American team, which picked up two more golds.
Less than an hour after completing the 200 IM Phelps swam his semifinal heat in the 100 butterfly, qualifying for the final with a time of 51.60 seconds.
With the shared win, Manuel became the first African-American woman to capture gold in swimming.
Her fingernails painted red, white and blue, Manuel broke down in tears after her landmark victory in a sport that still struggles to attract people of color.
Through his five Olympic appearances he’s progressed from one of the youngest American Olympians ever during his debut at 15 in Sydney, to the most decorated in history with 25 medals, 21 of those gold, as of August 11. Justin Rose made what is believed to be the first hole-in-one.
The world record belongs to Lochte, which he set in 2011.
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Bubba Watson of the United States, tees on the 16th hole during the first round of the men’s golf event at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, Aug. 11, 2016.
