Chad le Clos fourth as Phelps reigns supreme
After all was said and done, Michael Phelps did his talking in the pool.
The American legend claimed the 20th gold medal of his career and stamped himself as one of the greatest athletes of all time when he cleaned up in the most anticipated head-to-head of Rio 2016.
At the end of it, Phelps touched the wall first with Chad le Clos, the brilliant young South African who had ripped the Olympic 200m butterfly cloak of invincibility off his back in 2012, languishing in the American’s wake.
History will show that Phelps won gold in 1:53.36, and a distraught Le Clos went home with nothing to show for years of preparation. Fourth place in 1:54.06.
Le Clos, bidding to become the only man other than Phelps to retain a men’s 200m butterfly title, came up short.
Between him and the imperious American was the charging Japanese Masato Sakai, only four-hundredths of a second behind and Hungarian teenager Tamas Kenderesi third in 1:53.62. Such are the tight margins at this level of sport.
With media scrambling down the steep steel stairs to get into the mixed zone, an experienced, triumphant American commentator said, ‘Did you see, Phelps gave him the [finger] wag afterwards. He served his butt to him on a plate.’ With emotions running high after all the hype, it was hard to argue that Phelps had ‘owned’ Le Clos in this particular race.
By the time those media had got to the area where the swimmers pass through to give obligatory interviews, Le Clos had gone through. There was no coming back. He had no words as he pulled a towel over his head and headed away from the baying media, a beaten Olympic champion.