Unlike Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky, who continue to add to their medal collection, Ryan Lochte has only one shot at an individual award at the Rio Olympics.
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Phelps has won the gold in the 200m IM in every Olympics since 2004, often with Lochte finishing just behind him. There’s an ongoing card game in their suite and they amuse themselves with endless Snapchat sessions.
Another top American athlete going for gold on Thursday is judoka Kayla Harrison.
It’s the fourth consecutive time Phelps has won the event during the Olympics, which is a record. Phelps was third after 50 meters, but he and Lochte took control on the backstroke leg before Phelps pushed ahead on the breaststroke.
“I don’t know how to wrap my head around that”, Phelps said. At another time he would have far more championship hardware.
Now, he’s the first swimmer ever to win the same event at four straight Olympics.
In the women’s all-around, Simone Biles is the favorite to win gold and Aly Raisman will be a medal contender. When asked how he plans to tackle his last race, Lochte said he will focus on recovering.
“He won’t give up and that’s awesome”.
“It brings tears to my eyes because I want to hold him and hang out with him more”.
Lochte is stepping out of the swimming spotlight after this summer’s Olympic games to take a break from the sport, his mother said.
But the 200 IM. Thiago Pereira could deliver the host country’s first swimming medal of the games.
That was nearly two seconds in front of silver medallist Kosuke Hagino of Japan, the 400m individual medley champion who powered from fifth at the final wall to touch in 1:56.61.
The 31 year old American claimed the medal with a winning time of 54.66 seconds, to win his second individual medal at the games and is fourth overall.
“It’s insane to think about but It’s also really cool because I’ve been able to do everything that I ever wanted”, he added.
They are the two most decorated swimmers in Olympic history, with Lochte (whose 12 Olympic medals are second all time to Phelps’ 25) being pushed to the backseat only because he happened to be born just a year before Phelps.
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – 11/08/2016. Cate was under her own world-record pace at the turn, but had nothing coming back and fell all the way to sixth. He already has golds in the 4×100 and 4×200 freestyle relays, as well as in the 200 butterfly.
Schooling was struggling to comprehend his achievement as the first Olympic gold medal victor in Singapore’s history. The two exchanged a fist bump as they looked up at their times, Phelps No. 1 among qualifiers in 1:55.78, Lochte in 1:56.28.
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American Ryan Murphy completed a Rio double after bullying world champion Mitchell Larkin in the men’s 200m backstroke, winning in 1:53.62 to underline U.S. dominance of the event.
