U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps added to his total of gold medals with a powerful performance in the men’s 200-meter individual medley. Phelps is the first male swimmer to win the same event in three consecutive Olympics.
“To be able to win the gold medal and be the first to three-peat is something very special and something I am very happy about,” Phelps told London2012.com.
The win gives the 27-year-old Phelps 20 gold medals, with a chance to win two more in the 100-meter butterfly and 4x100-meter medley relay .
Phelps took the lead in the first leg of the race and was never bested, though fellow American Ryan Lochte pushed hard on the final leg, the freestyle. Phelps finished .63 seconds ahead of his teammate.
This will be Phelps’s last Olympics; the U.S. swimmer plans to retire after London. And why not?
As he often says, he has become “The First Michael Phelps,” the man others will hold up as a mark to aim at. With 20—perhaps 22—medals, and a host of other records, Michael Phelps exemplifies athletic achievement.
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