Joseph Schooling pulled off a stunning Olympic upset on Friday by beating United States legend Michael Phelps in the 100m butterfly to win Singapore’s first ever gold medal.
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He clinched silver in 2004 and 2012 and bronze in Beijing in 2008.
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.
Four of his 22 golds have been won at this Games, where he has added the 200m medley to the 200m butterfly, 4x100m freestyle relay and 4x200m freestyle relay.
If it were up to Phelps’ mother, Debbie, an Olympic career than began when her son was 15 years old would continue in 2020.
Lochte, a six-time Olympic champion, could only finish fifth, while Pereira faded badly and he trailed home seventh.
“I don’t know if I’ve (ever) been in a tie, so a three way tie is pretty wild”, said Phelps. It was a showdown between Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte.
“When I hit the wall I was just trying to catch my breath”, said 16-year-old Oleksiak after becoming the first Canadian to win four medals in a single Games. I’ve done something that no one in our country has done before. “We bring the best out of each other”, Lochte said after Wednesday’s semifinals, in which he finished just after Phelps.
Murphy also won the 100 back, becoming the third American man in the last three Olympics to take both races.
The second to last 50 was Phelps’ “worst stroke”, the breaststroke. Unfortunately, Lochte failed to medal, trailing off in the final 50m.
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As usual, Phelps pulled off the gruelling double, advancing to this morning’s final with the fifth-fastest time behind the fastest qualifier, Joseph Schooling. “We’re racers, it’s meets like these that I love the most where he and I get to go and kind of duke it out”.
