So when Michael Phelps tore his swim cap moments before preparing to dive into the pool to swim the final leg of the 4×200 freestyle relay on Tuesday night, well, you could have forgiven him for being more than a little ticked. Phelps has been on every one of those relays: 2004, 2008, 2012 and now 2016.
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Great Britain took home the silver and the Japanese snagged the bronze.
Anchoring a team that also featured Conor Dwyer, Townley Haas and Ryan Lochte, Phelps was handed a comfortable lead and brought the United States home in a time of seven minutes and 0.66 seconds, ahead of Great Britain and Japan.
Lochte, 32, is an 11 times medalist, with five golds.
The U.S. men won in 7:00.66, beating runner-up Britain and Japan.
However, after years of dominating the event at their top worldwide meet, the USA finished second to Great Britain at the 2015 world championships.
Lochte appeared in his fourth straight 4×200-meter freestyle relay Olympic final and has now won 12 Olympic medals in his career.
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Lochte’s program was paired down after the U.S. Trials in June, where he qualified to only swim the relay and the 200m individual medley, which begins Wednesday.
