No other Olympian has more than nine golds.
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Tuesday afternoon, though, he quietly dove into the pool at Olympic Aquatics Stadium and began his fourth Games.
“When I came back, I told Bob [Bowman, his coach] how bad I wanted that 200 fly”, said Phelps. “My gosh, I thought I was standing still”. Even though, with what I’ve accomplished in the sport, it doesn’t seem that way. “But for me, personally, I feel like I’m the underdog, and that’s really good for my mindset going into this Olympics”.
Phelps beat Japan’s Masato Sakai by just four hundredths of a second to take the 200 metres butterfly and just over an hour later anchored the usa 4x200m freestyle relay team to victory. There’s no comparable number from 2012, because the company didn’t allow its cable affiliates and website to compete with the prime-time NBC telecast four years ago.
It was the fourth successive US Olympic victory in the event. They won the women’s 10-meter synchronized platform title to make China 3-for-3 in the competition so far.
RATINGS: NBC said its Olympic audience reached parity with the London Games for the first time on the third night of competition – with an asterisk.
The American phenom, who won the 400m title with a stunning world record on day two, clocked 1:53.73 to win by 0.35 seconds from Sjostrom with Australia’s Emma Mckeon taking bronze in 1:54.92.
The Americans also took out the gymnastics women’s team final. The 200 IM, in which he will battle Phelps, is later in the week. “I wasn’t used to that. I can speak for these guys that we definitely were pumped up for this morning”.
There were several questions about the composition of the relay for the final. Foremost among them: Could Michael Phelps swim it?
Despite being a two-time victor of both the World Swimmer of the Year Award and the American Swimmer of the Year Award, three-time victor of the FINA Swimmer of the Year three times, and having won 89 medals in major global competitions, Lochte will probably always be known best for his attention-grabbing antics, like a public makeout session with Carmen Electra in 2013, and his made up mantras, including “Jeah!” and “Don’t duplicate, Just [sic] recipitate”.
Phelps was looking for redemption in the 200m butterfly after he shockingly lost his signature event at the 2012 Olympics in London to le Clos, and that’s exactly what he got.
One more Phelps note: Of all the American athletes here, he is the one most requested to take a photo with.
Lochte, too, was on the three previous Olympic champion teams in the 4×200. Phelps swam the anchor leg. In other words his finger saying, don’t mess with me.
“I’m excited to see what he’ll do the rest of the meet”, said Conor Dwyer, who led off the relay for the U.S.
Either way, Lochte’s meet has begun.
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He had his 20th and 21st gold medals. For now, though, his spot on the wall remains blank. “I had a similar expression when I encountered a moth in my house”, NBC soccer announcer Arlo White said.
