Later on Tuesday, Phelps looks to win gold medal No. 20 when he swims in the 200-meter butterfly against South African Chad le Clos, who beat Phelps in London; the USA women’s gymnastics team goes for gold in the team competition; and Lochte is set to make his Rio debut in the preliminaries of the men’s 4×200-meter relay.
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Anchoring a team that also featured Conor Dwyer, Townley Haas and Ryan Lochte, Phelps was handed a comfortable lead and brought the U.S. home in a time of seven minutes and 0.66 seconds, ahead of Great Britain and Japan.
By his own admission, Michael Phelps could not have scripted it better as he won back the title closest to his heart on an evening of pure gold for the most medalled Olympic athlete of all time.
Sunday night it produced a world record for Ledecky and showcased Phelps nearly singlehandedly putting the US men at the top of the podium in the 4×100 freestyle relay with a scintillating second leg that clocked in at 47.12.
He will get a chance for 13 starting Wednesday when he renews his 200m individual medley rivalry with Phelps. “He just didn’t have it to come home”, the coach said.
Everyone on the planet has been talking about Michael Phelps and Chad Le Clos, NBC swimming analyst Rowdy Gaines said Tuesday.
Still, Phelps was not done, putting the gloss on a fourth straight American victory in the 4x200m free, cruising home nearly two and a half seconds ahead of Britain’s James Guy in the swimming equivalent of baseball’s home-run trot around the bases.
Katinka Hosszu and Katie Ledecky struck further blows for girl power, but again it was all about Phelps, who later anchored the American 4×200 freestyle relay team to gold as the clock edged toward midnight local time. This was the one that got away at London in 2012.
The golden girls dubbed themselves “The Final Five” in honor of Karolyi’s retirement at the end of the Olympics and the fact that the format is changing for Tokyo in 2020 so that only four team members will take part in the team competition. In contrast, India’s tally from the 33 Summer Games it has participated in is: Nine golds, six silvers and 11 bronze medals. The rookies are also eligible to collect the same gold medal that the nighttime squad won.
The British claimed silver in 7:03.13, while Japan took the bronze in 7:03.50.
“That being my very first Olympic event, to be able to win it in my fifth Olympics is pretty special”.
CORONATION TIME: Biles and her American gymnastics teammates have been head and shoulders above the competition during qualifying.
The American, who won the 400 free on Sunday, finished Tuesday’s four-length race in a time of 1:53.73 seconds. Earlier in the night, Ledecky defeated Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom to win gold in the 200 freestyle.
“This is the race I really wanted back”, he said. Maya DiRado of the United States held on for the bronze.
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“That event was kind of like my bread and butter, and that was the last time I’ll ever swim it”. I had to dig deep.
