Michael Phelps seized another slice of Olympic history with a dominant victory in the 200m individual medley at the Rio Games, his fourth straight in the event.
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It was Phelps’ fourth successive win in the 200 metres individual medley, and his 13th individual gold medal with one more possible – in Friday’s 100m butterfly. Meanwhile, Ryan Lochte, the relay’s third leg, was churning through the pool on the back half of his two hundred, meaning that Phelps needed to be airborne off the starting block in less than a minute.
A 12-time Olympic medalist, Lochte had settled for two silvers and a bronze behind Phelps at the last three Olympics in this event. She also finished second to American Lilly King in the 100 breaststroke after initially being banned from the Rio Games for her links to the Russian doping scandal.
“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.
When a journalist obliged by asking Schooling how it felt to become “the go-to butterflier in the world right now”, the 21-year-old hesitated and glanced to his left at Phelps. “I don’t think I’m anywhere close to these three guys next to me”, he said modestly in reply to the question.
Only one other swimmer in the race, Australia’s Emma McKeon, got within a second of Ledecky’s four-lap time.
“I wanted to hold him longer”, Phelps said.
Tears welled in his eyes as he listened to the national anthem – until one of his buddies from Baltimore cracked him up that shouting out “O” like they do at Camden Yards before Orioles’ games.
But like most legends, Phelps didn’t start out this way. Then, on Thursday night, he broke it.
Le Clos was in the final again, thoroughly inspired himself by his mother and father, both battling cancer and in the stands cheering him on.
The sisters already have teamed up to lead Australia to a gold medal in the 4×100 freestyle relay.
Murphy extended American dominance of the backstroke events, which goes back to 1992. Phelps won gold each time. Tamas Kenderesi, 19, of Hungary, had turned the tables on Phelps in the semi-finals, passing him over the last 25m of their semi-final heat to beat him by 16 hundredths of a second.
The British claimed silver in 7:03.13, while Japan took the bronze in 7:03.50.
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Phelps exulted after his victory, wagging his finger, raising his arms and orchestrating the crowd’s response.
