That means, just like they lined up on Wednesday night, Phelps will be in Lane 4, Lochte in Lane 5. By also winning gold, Lochte became the second most-decorated male Olympic swimmer of all-time.
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Aly Raisman, another American who won gold with Biles in the team competition, is also in the mix Thursday but teammate Gabby Douglas, the defending Olympic champion, will be on the sidelines.
In the semifinal heat, Phelps took first, touching in 1:55.78, while Lochte was a breathe behind at 1:56.28.
“It’s good consistency, I guess”, she said nonchalantly.
“You’re going to bring tears to my eyes now”, Phelps told NBC’s Michelle Tafoya of the touching moment after a preliminary race in the 200m individual medley on Wednesday.
Lochte, who moved to Charlotte three years ago to train at SwimMAC Carolina, has 12 Olympic medals and would be considered the greatest Olympic swimmer of many generations.
Team United States celebrate winning the women’s 4 x 200-meter freestyle relay final on day five of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium on August 10, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. So we have to say, we’re only mildly impressed. It might well be the most anticipated race of these Games.
Franklin’s torch has been passed to Ledecky, who joined Phelps and Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu as three-time swimming gold medalists in Rio. Kazakhstan claimed its first-ever swimming medal – a gold one, at that – when Dmitriy Balandin pulled off a stunning upset in the 200 breaststroke.
In the furious down-and-back sprint that is the 100 free, Chalmers rallied on the return lap to win with a time of 47.58.
Balandin touched in 2 minutes, 7.46 seconds.
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Team USA leads the medal count after five days in Rio with 11 gold, 11 silver and 10 bronze for a total of 32 medals. He also captured gold past year in the World University Games.
