Rio De Janeiro — What the vault is to the United States gymnast Simone Biles, the 100-meter butterfly is to the five-time Olympian Michael Phelps. The shortest individual race in Phelps’s Olympic program has always been his toughest. His three consecutive victories, starting at the 2004 Games in Athens, came by a total margin of 28-hundredths of a second.
In his previous three finals, Phelps had never been better than fifth after the first 50. In Friday night’s final, he turned sixth, more than a half-second behind the leader, Joseph Schooling of Singapore, a rising junior and all-American swimmer at Texas.
Phelps chased Schooling in the last 50, but Schooling could not be caught. He clocked a 50.39, faster than Phelps swam in any of his Olympic victories.
“As a kid I wanted to be like him,” said Schooling, who got his photograph taken with Phelps before his eight-gold-medal performance at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. “It’s crazy to think of what happens in eight years,” Schooling said, adding: “A lot of this is because of Michael. He’s the reason I wanted to be a better swimmer.”
Phelps tied for second with Laszlo Cseh and Chad le Clos in 51.14. How fitting. Phelps has been racing against the 30-year-old Cseh for over a decade. His rivalry with le Clos, while shorter in duration, has been more intense. Le Clos handed Phelps his first butterfly defeat at the Olympics in the 200 in 2012.
(Sourced from agencies, Feature image courtesy:oneindia.com)
