Later, Phelps was the anchor leg of the victorious 4×200 freestyle relay.
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Masato Sakai of Japan threatened to come from behind to upset the American, finishing four one-hundredths of a second behind in second. His timing was 0.4 seconds ahead of silver medallist Sakai. The only thing that mattered was getting to the wall first.
Both Le Clos’ parents – mum Geraldine and father Bert, whose exuberant celebrations captured the public’s imagination four years ago – have cancer.
He swore he was retiring after the 2012 London Games-but he roared back in Rio on Sunday night and crushed the competition in the men’s 4x100m relay.
After winning the 200-meter butterfly – his signature event – for the third time, Phelps stood triumphant in the pool, gesturing with bravado.
World-record holder Federica Pelligrini of Italy was fourth.
Ledecky touched in 1:53.73. Sjostrom went a time of 1:54.08, and Australia’s Emma McKeon swam in 1:54.92 for bronze.
Her world record and season best of 8:06.68 is nearly a full 12 seconds ahead of Australia’s Jessica Ashwood, who is ranked second in the world.
Twitter had its fun with the #PhelpsFace, but it was Phelps who truly had the last laugh. There wasn’t a shot in hell I was losing it. “I’m just so glad I got my hand on the wall first and it was all worth it”.
“That being my very first Olympic event, to be able to win it in my fifth Olympics is pretty special”. Ledecky now has the 200 and 400 titles, and she’s an overwhelming favorite to win the 800.
There was nothing Japan could do to stop Phelps from collecting his 21st either, as the most decorated Olympian of all time dried himself off and joined his United States teammates just over an hour later to win gold in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay.
RIO DE JANEIRO Michael Phelps won two gold medals on Tuesday, avenging his 200 meters butterfly defeat from the London Olympics and then anchoring the USA 4×200 freestyle team to victory on a night of high drama and emotion in the pool.
Phelps has owned the world record since 2001, lowering it eight times, most recently in 2009 during the tail end of the buoyant suit era.
Phelps essentially spent the next 100 seconds or so on a victory lap, the crowd’s cheers growing louder with each stroke. They enjoyed a relatively significant lead over the Great Britain team comprised of Stephen Milne, Duncan Scott, Daniel Wallace and James Guy who finished with a time of 7:03.13 winning silver.
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Phelps started reasonably slowly by his standards and was behind László Cseh at the 50-metre mark.
