US swimming phenom Michael Phelps will be looking to earn his 22 career gold medal in the 200 meter individual medley Thursday night.
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Phelps qualified for his first Olympics as a 15-year-old at the 2000 Sydney Olympics in the 200m fly.
“We’ve been racing for the last 12 years and having one more battle tomorrow will be fun”, he added after qualifying quickest for the final in a time of one minute, 55.78 seconds. Eastern time on Thursday in a race that will be heavily promoted by NBC.
That means, just like they lined up on Wednesday night, Phelps will be in Lane 4, Lochte in Lane 5. Canada took the bronze in 7:45.39.
And get this: Ledecky’s relay time was only one-hundredth of a second slower than her winning time in the 200 free the previous night. “That’s why he brings out the best in me and hopefully I do the exact same for him”.
And true to his word, Phelps is soaking it all up in his Olympic swansong, enjoying some of the sweetest moments of his illustrious career as he turns his farewell into one long lap of honour. And Russia goes for its first gold medal in the pool in the men’s 200 backstroke.
Phelps had a almost synonymous description of his Olympic career, with its record 21 gold medals and 25 total medals – so far.
World record-holder Lochte won his heat in 1:57.38 to top the times, with Germany’s Philip Heintz second quickest in 1:57.59. Then again, Lochte said that in 2012. He’s also got a chance to pull off that feat in the 100 butterfly. Some of the top junior swimmers for their respective countries are in Rio, so we’ve compiled lists of the top three 18-&-under swimmers in each race to give you a look at some of the swimmers who could possibly be the future of Olympic swimming.
The preliminaries begin Wednesday afternoon, where Lochte will hit the pool for his first individual swim of the Rio Games. They’ve combined to win more than 80 championship medals in Olympic and World Championship competition.
Phelps has won the event at the past three Olympics, while Lochte has twice finished second in the event. 2012 Olympic champ Ranomi Kromowidjojo also made the final, in fourth place.
Murphy already won gold in the 100 back.
Australia won silver and Canada took bronze.
Legend has it that it was Hercules himself who first called the Games “Olympic”, and established distances for the running events. His career total of 21 gold medals and 25 medals overall makes him the most decorated American Olympic athlete ever.
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London gold medalist Ranomi Kromowidjojo was fourth-fastest.
