Olympics: With 21 golds, Michael Phelps still rules the pool

Agence France-Presse

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

Olympics: With 21 golds, Michael Phelps still rules the pool

EPA

(UPDATED) The American, the most decorated athlete in Olympic history, added to his staggering title tally by winning golds in the 200m butterfly and 4x200 relay within an hour

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (5th UPDATE) – In an unforgettable display of Olympic power Michael Phelps won two more finals to take his historic all-time record load to 21 golds and entrench his legendary status.

His majestic display came on a day that Hungary’s ‘Iron Lady’ Katinka Hosszu took her third gold of the week while American gymnast Simone Biles made a flying start to her bid for a record 5 Rio Olympic golds. But Serena Williams crashed out of what could be her final Games.


Michael Phelps’ 21 Olympic gold medals

Athens 2004

  • 100m butterfly
  • 200m butterfly
  • 200m individual medley
  • 400m individual medley
  • 4x200m freestyle relay
  • 4x100m medley relay

Beijing 2008

  • 200m freestyle
  • 100m butterfly
  • 200m butterfly
  • 200m individual medley
  • 400m individual medley
  • 4x100m freestyle relay
  • 4x200m freestyle relay
  • 4x100m medley relay

London 2012

  • 100m butterfly
  • 200m individual medley
  • 4x200m freestyle relay
  • 4x100m individual medley

Rio 2016

  • 200m butterfly
  • 4x100m freestyle relay
  • 4x200m freestyle relay

Phelps beat Japan’s Masato Sakai by just four hundredths of a second to take the 200 meters butterfly and just over an hour later anchored the US 4x200m freestyle relay team to victory.

At 31 – the oldest individual Olympic swimming gold medallist ever – Phelps is still the master of the pool.

After claiming his 20th title in 5 Olympics – beating old rival Chad le Clos in the process – Phelps stood in the pool striking a pose like a Roman emperor as he soaked up the acclaim.

After an emotional medals ceremony, he climbed across the massed ranks of photographers to kiss fiancé Nicole Johnson and their child Boomer.

It was another dramatic night in the pool with Hosszu completing the individual medley double by winning the 200m final in an Olympic best 2:06.58.

Katie Ledecky, leading the new generation of American swimming stars, captured her second gold of the Games by holding off a brave charge from Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom to take the women’s 200m freestyle final in 1:53.73.

The United States is also looking forward to a new era of gymnastics domination with Biles, tipped as the biggest thing since Nadia Comaneci, helping the USA women’s team to victory by eight points over Russia.

She is aiming for an unprecedented 5 titles this week.

“It’s everything and more than I’d hoped it to be,” said the tiny 19-year-old Texan who has set gymnastics alight with 10 world titles in the past three years.

As her Olympic odyssey got underway, another crumbled as defending tennis champion Williams suffered a shock 6-4, 6-3 defeat to Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina in the third round.

Williams, hampered by a shoulder injury, served five double faults in one game of the second set as her own bid to reach five gold medals ended.

The 34-year-old and her sister Venus were earlier knocked out of the women’s doubles, the three-time champions’ first ever defeat together in Olympic competition.

“It was a great opportunity. It didn’t work out the way I wanted it to, but at least I was able to make it to Rio. That was one of my goals,” she said.

French Open champion Garbine Muguruza also crashed out, losing 6-1, 6-1 to Monica Puig of Puerto Rico.

Green water

In diving, competitors were perplexed to find the water had turned from light blue to green overnight, although organizers insisted it was safe.

China’s Chen Ruolin shrugged off the color change to claim a record-equalling fifth gold medal in the women’s synchronized 10m platform, with partner Liu Huixia.

New Zealand’s rugby hopes took a blow when superstar Sonny Bill Williams suffered a tournament-ending injury in their shock 14-12 opening defeat to Japan.

France won their first gold of Rio in the equestrian team eventing. French hero Astier Nicolas also took a silver in the individual event behind Germany’s Michael Jung.

Chinese weightlifter Deng Wei won the women’s 63kg category with a world record after Taiwanese rival Lin Tzu-chi pulled out amid reports of a failed dope test.

Fears over Olympic security meanwhile flared anew after a bus carrying accredited press was attacked in Rio late Tuesday.

It remained unclear whether gunfire or stones were used in the media bus attack, which smashed windows and slightly injured two journalists, according to Rio organizers.

The incident comes after a stray bullet ripped through a media tent at the equestrian venue on Saturday and a controlled explosion near the finish of the men’s cycle road race. – Rappler.com

Add a comment

Sort by

There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.

Summarize this article with AI

How does this make you feel?

Loading
Download the Rappler App!