On Thursday night, Michael Phelps beat Ryan Lochte in the Men’s 200 Individual Medley in Rio, capping off months of anticipation and friendly competition and laying waste to the rest of the field, finishing ahead of everyone else by what seemed like miles. He stopped the clock at one minute, 54.66 seconds, off Ryan Lochte’s world record of 1:54.00.
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The American now has 21 Olympic gold medals and 25 in total.
“I think it’s great just having anybody who is able to compete in these Games”, he said.
Lochte, a three-time Olympic medalist in this event, finished fifth with his time of 1:57.47.
Lochte, a six-time Olympic champion, could only finish fifth, while Pereira’s challenge faded badly as he trailed home seventh.
“We bring out the best in each other”, he said.
It’s been one of the best and most entertaining swimming rivalries to witness, and at one of the most anticipated highlights at the 2016 Rio Olympics, these swimmers followed through with an even more epic race.
Kaneto, 27, put controversial Russian swimmer Yulia Efimova into silver, with China’s Jinglin Shi winning bronze.
But Phelps was in a league of his own.
Phelps earned his 15th individual Olympic gold, breaking his tie with Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina for the record. The Americans are the top two all-time performers in the event.
Her fingernails painted red, white and blue, Manuel broke down in tears after her landmark victory in a sport that still struggles to attract people of color.
“We are able to get these guys some swims at this level and I think it’s something that hopefully is going to help them throughout their career”, he said. I’m sure most people don’t go into it thinking they can beat Usain Bolt either.
Phelps and Lochte, the world record holder in the event coming into Rio, were also part of the gold medal-winning 4×200-meter freestyle relay team on Tuesday.
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Neither one made the podium by themselves. Who knows. It could be for a day, it could be 10 days, two years. Campbell, incredibly, finished outside of the medals in fourth.
