As though 19 weren’t sensational enough, Michael Phelps has just extended the margin by which he’s going to remain the Greatest Of All Time even further with his 20th Olympic Gold medal in the Men’s 200-metre butterfly contest at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium in Rio de Janeiro.
Clocking a brilliant 1:53:36 which was substantially behind the WR mark of 1:51.51 that he’d set way back in 2009, the Baltimore Bullet clinched the top spot in tonight’s finale clash, edging past Masato Sakai from Japan by a mere four hundredths of a second. Finishing .22 seconds behind Sakai was Hungarian Tamas Kenderesi with a timing of 1:53.62, thereby taking bronze in this cliffhanger that seemed to be absolutely anybody’s game till the very end.
Having conceded the gold medal to South Africa’s Chad le Clos four years back at London 2012 in this very event, Michael Phelps was desperate to not replicate the undesired as he came out all guns blazing for today’s finals. As the world braced for another gripping Phelps-Le Clos duel, it was the Japanese Sakai who ended up posing the biggest threat to Phelps with a stunning late surge in the course of the final 50m stretch.
As many as three tough rivals continuously breathing over his shoulders after he took the lead just before the halfway mark, the Flying Fish held on to have the last laugh, while at the same time avenging his London 2012 defeat to the South African who narrowly missed podium finish as he finished 4th on this occasion, timing 1:54.06, more than a whole second behind his gold-winning mark of 1:52.96 from the previous edition of the Olympics.
It’s turning out to be a fantastic Day 4 for the American swimmers at the Rio Olympics 2016, with Katie Ledecky, too, securing her 2nd gold of the campaign in the Women’s 200m freestyle event, just before the quickest men in Butterfly strokes squared off against each other in 200m final.
