In what was billed as the final showdown between two of America’s greatest swimmers, Phelps blew away Lochte – and everyone else – to win his fourth gold medal of the Rio Olympics and 22nd overall with a victory in the 200-meter individual medley Thursday night.
Advertisement
Lochte ended up finishing a surprising fifth, which took some of the shine off of the “friendly rivalry” angle the race was supposed to provide.
Phelps finished the final in 1 minute 54.66 seconds, nearly two seconds ahead of Japan’s Kosuke Hagino at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium.
Brazilian contender Thiago Pereira, buoyed by an ecstatic crowd, led after the opening butterfly lap and was equal second at the halfway point, but faded to finish seventh.
World champion Mitch Larkin, who had hoped to become only the second Australian to win a backstroke gold and the first since 1960, took the silver medal while Russian Evgeny Rylov clinched bronze.
The only one of four Americans in the 60-man field to break par was Matt Kuchar (69).
Phelps’ emphatic win gave him his fourth straight 200-meter individual medley title. Aaron Peirsol pulled off the sweep at Athens in 2004, while Lenny Krayzelburg claimed both golds at the 2000 Sydney Games. World Sailing spokesman Darryl Seibel said van Acker, the bronze medalist at London and a favorite to return to the podium in Rio, was evaluated by the chief medical officer after her races.
“The competitive environment between those two guys has always been good”, said Gregg Troy, who coached both swimmers at the 2012 Olympics.
“I don’t know how to wrap my head around that”, Phelps said. “I think for me, he brings the best out of me”.
Racing side by side in lanes 4 and 5, Phelps and Lochte totally dominated the men’s 200-meter individual medley, with Phelps taking gold and Lochte coming in fifth.
In 2000, in the Sydney Games, Phelps at 15 was the youngest male Olympian the United States had presented in almost 70 years.
The medal extends Phelps’ Olympic record to 26 career medals, including 22 golds. He’s won 12 medals, one more than Mark Spitz, the star of the 1972 games.
Advertisement
The Olympics came to an end for another USA backstroke champion. “I consider that Ryan and I have probably grown closer together as friends this year than we have in the past”.
