The gold is Phelps’ fourth consecutive in the 200 IM.
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It was a night of high drama at Rio’s Olympic Aquatics Stadium on Thursday with a new Michael Phelps record, a dead heat and Canada’s first gold medal of these Games. But it wasn’t to be: While Phelps grabbed an early edge that he built into a commanding lead on the final leg, Lochte couldn’t get past either Kosuke Hagino of Japan, who took silver, or Wang Shun of China, who won bronze.
Phelps left Lochte trailing in his wake.
Phelps became the third Olympian to win the same individual event at four straight Games, joining discus thrower Al Oerter and Carl Lewis in the long jump in achieving the feat. Her grand medal total is one, gold from the relay, but she only got it because she swam in prelims.
Will Lochte’s fifth place finish in his final race in Rio motivate him to return in 2020?
Phelps clocked 1:54.66 for a comfortable winning margin of 1.95 seconds.
Three-peat: Phelps became the only swimmer to win an idividual event at three Olympics by winning the 100 m butterfly in 2012.
Phelps had just under 35 minutes to recover before semifinals of the 100 butterfly, an event in which he has held the world record since 2009.
“He brings the best out in me”, Phelps told NBC Sports.
“I can’t say this is my last time swimming”, said the 32-year-old, 12-time Olympic medalist. But over the past four Olympic cycles, Phelps has been golden and Lochte – just like his current hair color – has been silver.
In nearly any other era, Lochte would have been considered the best swimmer of his generation. Murphy extended red-white-and-blue dominance of the backstroke events that goes back to 1992.
“Doing the hundred back and having a good time in that helped me to realize that I could do better in the 200 back than I did at trials”.
Asked if he wished he’d been born in a different era, Lochte said no. victor of six Olympic golds and 12 total, he joined Phelps on the gold-medal winning 4×200 free relay on Tuesday.
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The Russian, whose participation has provoked open hostility from rival swimmers, was a distant second with China’s Shi Jinglin third. He would finish fifth and would miss out on bronze by two spots.
