In their 18th meeting at a major national or worldwide competition, MIchael Phelps notched another Olympic gold in the 200 meter individual medley while Ryan Lochte failed to medal in the race in Rio.
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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 story got even better when Phelps won the gold and Le Clos didn’t medal at all. Phelps set an Olympic record by winning four consecutive gold medals in swimming and 22 gold medals to date.
With the Rio crowd’s excitement mounting, the three turned nearly together after the backstroke, with Lochte a fraction ahead. “One last time! #USA #longjourney #12years”, Lochte captioned the ‘gram of them sitting in matching inflatable rescue floats and digging into their carb-packed pre-race meals.
Michael Phelps waggled four fingers, recognizing another historic achievement. The other events would have been competed in, while athletes were naked. The “Baltimore Bullet” has already brought home the gold medal in the event the last three Olympics, and if he can win on Friday, he would have 23 gold medals in his illustrious Olympic career.
“I can’t say this is my last time swimming”, said the 32-year-old, 12-time Olympic medalist.
Lochte’s performance at Rio was far from the heights he would have expected, particularly given it was his only individual event at his fourth Olympics. “It’s exactly how I want to exit the sport”. That was the first American gold in the women’s 100 free since 1984, when teammates Nancy Hogshead and Carrie Steinseifer also tied for it. The second-most decorated USA men’s swimmer in history just turned 32 years old and said Friday he’s taking a break from the sport, although he didn’t rule out returning for Tokyo.
“The 100-meter backstroke is actually the one that comes more naturally for me so that’s the one I was really gunning for. I just wish I would have ended up better”, Lochte said. “Him and I have literally duked it out back and forth and back and forth”.
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Glory for Japan Rie Kaneto pulled away from Yulia Efimova to take gold in the women’s 200m breaststroke in Thursday’s first final. Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden took the bronze.
