A Canadian TV commentator committed the ultimate Olympic howler when he excitedly reported that Ryan Lochte had beaten Michael Phelps in the men’s 200m individual medley – before realising he had mixed up their lanes.
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Swimming next to Lochte, Phelps put up an effortless-looking time of 1:55.78 to claim the prime middle lane in Thursday night’s final.
The only event left for Phelps to swim here is Saturday night’s medley relay.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and President Tony Tan Keng Yam congratulated the Singapore swim sensation for creating a history and winning the nation’s first Olympic gold medal.
Phelps was timed in 1 minute, 54.66 seconds.
That victory, the 13th individual triumph of his Olympics career, meant he surpassed the greatest athlete of ancient Greece and indeed of the Games – Leonidas of Rhodes.
“Being able to finish how I want is something very special to me”. “He’s in such a good place personally”.
Lochte and Phelps’ unique relationship has been closely followed by sports fans for more than a decade, with the two first competing against each other on the global stage during the 2004 Olympic games in Athens. “I’m just honored and glad to have that moment and that privilege to race alongside Michael and Chad and all those guys”.
The Spanish swimmer was silver medalist in that event at the 2012 London Games, where she also took silver in the 800 freestyle behind Katie Ledecky.
Ryan Murphy grabbed his second gold medal of the Games after winning the 200-meter backstroke title. He repeated this feat in the next three subsequent Olympics, in 160 BC, in 156 BC, and finally in 152 BC at the age of 36.
Prime Minister Lee wrote on his Facebook: “My heartiest congratulations to Joseph Isaac Schooling for his historic gold medal win and Olympic record of 50.39 seconds for the 100m butterfly!”
It has been a hugely eventful Olympic judo competition which included the first Olympic medal for Kosovo and some inspirational performances from two Congolese refugee judokas.
A pair of Americans, Nathan Adrian and Anthony Ervin, had the second and third best times in the heats.
The next closest competitor to Ledecky in Thursday’s prelims was Hungary’s Boglarka Kapas, who was 6.57 seconds behind, followed by British swimmer Jazz Carlin at 6.81 seconds behind. She certainly has nothing to complain about after winning two golds, a silver and a bronze in Rio.
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“I wish that end was a lot better”.
