The U.S. will have a good shot at another gold in the women’s 200 free, with Katie Ledecky looking to make it 2-for-2 in the longer freestyle events.
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Phelps came out of retirement in 2014 and highlighted reclaiming his 200m butterfly Olympic title as being his priority, a quest he has now reached fulfilment with.
Making up for one of the few losses in his staggering career, Phelps held off Japan’s Masato Sakai by a mere four-hundredths of a second.
Water quality has been a major issue surrounding the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, but in the ocean and lagoons, not the pools.
The normally stern Karolyi broke down in tears when she was told of the nickname the team adopted.
United States’ Michael Phelps laughs after he was awarded the gold medal during the medal ceremony for the men’s 200-meter butterfly final during the swimming competitions at the 2016 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2016, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
In diving, competitors were perplexed to find the water had turned from light blue to green overnight, although organizers insisted it was safe.
Twitter had its fun with the #PhelpsFace, but it was Phelps who truly had the last laugh.
Katinka Hosszu of Hungary is also piling up quite the gold medal collection, claiming her third gold of the Olympics with a victory in the 200-metre individual medley.
Meanwhile, among the mortals, Canada’s Santo Condorelli – he of the middle finger salute to his dad before races – finished second in his 100m freestyle semifinal and tied for third overall to qualify for Wednesday’s final. The win came as a sweet victory to the 31 year old who came in silver in 2012 and lost to South Africa’s Chad Le Clos. Svitolina, who had never before played in an Olympics, smiled and stuck her arms out in front of her, palms up, as if waking up from a dream.
Fears over Olympic security meanwhile flared anew, after a bus carrying accredited press was attacked in Rio late Tuesday.
New Zealand’s rugby hopes took a blow when superstar Sonny Bill Williams suffered a tournament-ending injury in their shock 14-12 opening defeat to Japan.
JUDO HISTORY: Hungarian-born Szandra Szogedi made history when she stepped onto the judo mat to become the first judoka to represent Ghana – she obtained citizenship through her husband.
World-record holder Federica Pelligrini of Italy was fourth.
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It was just another golden evening for the US, with an earlier win by the peerless Katie Ledecky in the women’s 200 free, though she looked gassed in the middle of a tough race with Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom and said afterward: “That hurt pretty bad”.
