He is now headed to an epic last chapter alongside Ryan Lochte in their long-running rivalry – both booked semi-final berths in the men’s 200m individual medley in Rio on Wednesday.
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Phelps and Lochte went head-to-head in their 200m individual medley semifinal.
World record-holder Lochte won his heat in 1:57.38 to top the times, with Germany’s Philip Heintz second quickest in 1:57.59.
The medal machine that is Phelps on Tuesday matched what must surely rank as the oldest record in sport when he chalked up his 12th individual Olympic swimming gold medal.
On a cold night in Rio’s Olympic Aquatics Stadium, the US women hooked their cars to the Ledecky Train and rode it to another gold medal for Team USA – this one in the women’s 4 x 200 freestyle relay.
Phelps and Lochte will race for the gold in the finals Thursday night. On the other hand, Lochte missed out on several golds after finishing second to the legendary Phelps.
It hurt so much that Phelps made it his mission to exact revenge in Rio and win it one last time. Lochte now holds the top two times in history but Phelps got the best of him at the 2012 Olympics in London and at this year’s U.S. Olympic trials.
‘I wanted to be with him more, ‘ he added.
“We’ll hang out because swimming doesn’t dictate our friendship”, Lochte said.
In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Phelps’ teammate Conor Dwyer described what it was like to swim alongside Ledecky: “She’d just start beating me every single 100, and slowly but surely you get broken – and your morale goes down quickly when you get broken by a female in practice”.
Katie Ledecky, won her second gold medal of the games by winning the 200 meter freestyle. He isn’t the medal holder, since winning athletes were awarded wreaths in competition, but you get the idea.
“I don’t realize yet I’m an Olympic champion”, Balandin said.
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Team USA leader Carmelo Anthony will be just 12 points away from taking the top spot as the highest scoring player in US olympics history when the team squares off against Australia Wednesday night at 6 p.m. Kevin Cordes and Josh Prenot will compete in the men’s 200 meter breaststroke, while Caleb Dressel and Nathan Adrian swim for Team USA in the men’s 100 meter freestyle event.
