Michael Phelps won gold medals in the 200 butterfly and the 800 freestyle relay.
Advertisement
It was South Africa’s le Clos who pipped him to gold in London, inflicting a shock defeat on the American who had won the event in 2004 and 2008.
Michael Phelps and South African swimmer Chad le Clos revived their rivalry on Monday night during the semifinals for the 200m butterfly, complete with an epic stare down.
Le Clos, the defending champion, faded badly in the final 50m and finished out of the medals as Japan’s Masato Sakai came through for a surprise silver in 1:53.40 with Hungary’s Tamas Kenderesi taking bronze in 1:53.62.
The race marked just the second time Lochte has been in the pool for the United States throughout Rio.
Phelps could perform the feat in both the 100m butterfly and 200m individual medley.
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.
Despite Sakai’s late and unexpected surge, Phelps clung on for a record-extending gold and his 24th Olympic medal in all.
He had his 20th and 21st gold medals. Hosszu won the gold in 2:06.58, just beating Siobhan-Marie O’Connor by three-tenths of a second.
That split-second decision got him to the wall ahead of everyone else, by a mere four-hundredths of a second.
Team GB surpassed Australia, early leaders in the relay, and Japan to nab the silver with a time of 7:03.13.
Phelps turned in his goggles after the 2012 London Olympics, telling reporters he had lost his passion for swimming and didn’t feel he was in top condition for the Games.
Conor Dwyer, Townley Haas and Ryan Lochte made sure of that, handing off a commanding lead to the most decorated athlete in Olympic history.
The Hungarian known as the “Iron Lady” earned her third gold medal of the Rio Games with a victory in the 200 individual medley.
Despite the fact that he’s 31, Phelps is in his fourth Olympic Games, and is considered past his prime, especially given what he had to go through to get to Rio. The US Olympian has won 25 medals in a glittering career.
Advertisement
Ledecky held off Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom to win the 200 freestyle and give the American star her second gold of the Rio Games. Her clean and jerk lift also broke her world record by 1 kilogram.
