Michael Phelps and Simone Biles powered their way to more gold medals with rousing routs at the Rio Games on Thursday.
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Leonidas “maintained his speed at its prime for four Olympiads, and won 12 victories for running”, second century A.D. Greek writer Pausanias wrote.
Of course, the stadion is a race measuring about 200 yards and diaulos is one that’s twice as long. That was a diaulos performed while wearing a bronze armor and carrying a shield.
Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps’ diet has been the stuff of legends since his eating habits were televised during his historic performance during the 2008 Games in Beijing.
Athletes from the United States have won 27 medals overall so far in Rio.
– While the American has 22, Fiji finally have a medal of any colour after their rugby sevens team thrashed Great Britain 43-7 in the men’s final.
Despite winning four golds in London in 2012, Phelps has said he was dissatisfied with his preparation and results there and wants to bow out on his own terms.
“I had to work at it every day for many years”.
He became the first swimmer to win the same event at four consecutive Olympics with the win, clocking in 1 minute 54.66 seconds for 200m individual medley on Thursday, nearly two seconds ahead of Japan’s Kosuke Hagino.
Earlier, US teammate Maya Dirado earned her first gold of the Rio Games, after claiming a silver and bronze earlier in the week, as she pipped Katinka Hosszu in the women’s 200m backstroke.
Oerter, however, has a plus.
In that same time, he added a shiny gold to Singapore’s modest medal tally.
Phelps still has a chance to leave Rio with 23 golds in his career.
Michael Phelps tied for silver but missed the gold in the 100-meter butterfly final Friday night.
But are Phelps’ feats comparable to those of Leonidas? The Americans are the top two all-time performers in the event.
Leonidas made his exploits by placing his bare feet in grooved marble starting blocks – a far cry from today’s high-tech sport standards. An athlete who won three events at a single Olympics was known as a triastes, or tripler.
“I’m just probably more vocal and more outgoing now than I have been in the past”, Phelps said after the heats of the 100m breaststroke, in which he qualified fourth fastest for the semi-finals.
In the blink of an eye, Ervin went from one end of the pool to the other in a furious dash, edging the defending Olympic champion, Florent Manaudou of France, by a mere hundredth of a second.
If Phelps’ records are ever broken, it might take another 2,000 years.
Leonidas, however was five years older than Phelps when he won his last Olympic wreath. “It’s kind of special and a decent way to finish my last individual race”. I just have two Olympic gold medals now.
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Also look out for Katie Ledecky of the U.S.as she swims in the heats of the 800 meters freestyle.
