United States’ Ryan Lochte, left, and United States’ Michael Phelps check their times after competing in a men’s 200-meter individual medley semifinal during the swimming competitions at the 2016 Summer Olympics, Wednesday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
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Phelps never looked in danger of finishing anywhere but first in the race, with a strong breaststroke leg setting him well and truly up to blitz the field in the final freestyle lap.
Japan’s Kosuke Hagino took the silver, while China’s Wang Shun claimed the bronze.
“You just have no idea how hard it is for anybody to win an Olympic gold medal”, Bowman said.
Phelps and Lochte have each medaled in the 200 IM in the last three Olympics. He’s already won four golds here and has the chance for two more.
Lochte turned 32 last week and is non-committal about whether Rio is his last Olympics. The mistake is out there and won’t ever go away. I think with a different objective, he’s going to come back and push his limits. Ryan Murphy completed a sweep of the men’s backstroke events in the 200, but the most socially significant triumph was Simone Manuel tying 16-year-old Canadian Penny Oleksiak for the top spot in the 100 freestyle.
Murphy hit the wall in 1 minute 53.62 seconds, 0.34sec ahead of Australia’s Mitchell Larkin.
“I don’t know if I’m in better shape than I was in 2008”, Phelps said of his fitness now compared to the year he won eight gold medals in eight events in Beijing.
If you need proof of close this race was expected to be, consider that Lochte owns the world record in the event at 1:54, while Phelps set the Olympic record, at 1:54.23.
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Meanwhile Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu qualified fastest for the women’s 200m backstroke final on Friday with a time of 2:06.03. “But I was really pleased with today’s medal and the one that came before it because looking back at what happened to me over that time, it’s a big step”. Time to update that poster.
