Michael Phelps amazingly wins 200m fly, gives the finger wag in victory
Michael Phelps can truly retire without any regrets, as he took home his signature event — the 200-meter butterfly — with a gold medal on Tuesday night.
It was a revenge win. This was the one that got away in 2012. He took silver, losing to South Africa’s Chad Le Clos. You know, the guy who danced in front of Phelps on Monday night.
On Tuesday night? Phelps touched the wall first, and then he finger-wagged Le Clos’ way. Yes, the greatest swimmer ever went Dikembe Mutombo and wagged his finger as if to say, “No, no, no, no.”
Phelps won the 200-meter fly by four-one-hundreths of a second, hitting the wall in 1:53.36. The forgotten man in this race will be Japan’s Masato Sakai, who touched in 1:53.40. Never before has an Olympic 200-meter fly final been such a close margin.
Hungary’s Tamsas Kenderesi took bronze (1:53.62). Chad Le Clos? Off the podium. He had had a huge final turn and pushed, but Phelps and the field overwhelmed him. He finished in 1:54.06. From gold in London in 2012 to nothing in 2016.
Phelps, swimming in lane five, had the lead halfway through — a .43 advantage on the field, at 53.3 seconds — at never relinquished first from there on out.
Phelps is now the oldest swimmer to take gold in an individual event in Olympic men’s swimming history. He now has 14 individual Olympic medals — tied for the most in history. His 20 total medals is an Olympic record. This is the third gold medal in 200 fly in Phelps’ career (Athens, 2004; Beijing, 2008).