LONDON—The brilliant, yet fading swimming icon can finally now be considered among the greatest Olympians ever — winner of more medals than anyone in history — and for that the American giant Michael Phelps will be forever remembered.
He has dominated his sport more than any other man or woman, now the owner of 19 Olympics medals after an individual silver in the 200-metre butterfly and a gold in the 4x200 freestyle relay, won at the London Games on Tuesday night.
It is a jaw-dropping accomplishment, incomprehensible on some levels, and a testament to otherworldly abilities. On the same night, in the same pool, for someone who isn’t as naturally gifted or, possibly, as mentally driven, another achievement was smaller, but no less important.
Calgary’s Brent Hayden, who has been to three Olympics without knowing the feeling of even swimming in an individual final is not in Phelps’s league, but earning a chance to swim for an individual medal in Wednesday’s 100-metre freestyle final had him choking back tears.
“Sorry,” he said, while taking a few seconds to get composed, “third Olympics, first individual final. It’s what I’ve dreamed of since I was a little kid, you know.
“It means everything.”
Hayden finished fourth in his semifinal in 48.21 on Tuesday and will be seeded sixth in Wednesday’s final, the first time a Canadian has contested an Olympic men’s 100-metre freestyle final in more than half a century.
Contesting finals — and winning medals in them — comes almost as naturally as breathing to Phelps, the American wunderkind, who passed legendary Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina’s career total of 18.
“It has been a pretty amazing career but we still have a couple of races left,” said Phelps, who will also swim the 200-metre individual medley and the 100-metre butterfly here.
But it is a perhaps a sign of Phelps’s fast-fading dominance that he tied the record by being edged by France’s Chad le Clos in a dramatic duel.
Phelps had won three straight Olympic 200-metre butterfly golds, is the world and Games record holder in the event but he misjudged the wall slightly at the finish, coming second in 1:53.01 to le Clos’s winning time of 1:52.96.
“Phelps is my hero and I love the guy,” said le Clos. “To beat him, I can’t believe it. You don’t understand what this means to me, this is the greatest moment of my life.
Phelps’s 19th medal was ridiculously easy as he anchored the American relay team that swam in 6:59.70 to France’s silver medal time of 7:02.77. China was third in 7:06.30.
“What we talked about in the (pre-race) huddle is I thanked those guy for helping me get to this moment,” he said.
“I was like ‘you better give me a big lead going into the last leg’ and they gave it to me. I thank them for being able to allow me to have this moment.”
Hayden will never have as many moments as Phelps but it doesn’t matter. The Olympics are about pushing oneself to the limit under excruciating attention and a large dose of pressure.
And considering he got hit with a wave, couldn’t see particularly well and kind of made an error at the finish of the race, shaving a few tenths of a second off might not be that hard.
“I was a little too shallow coming off the wall so I sort of nailed an incoming wave and had to build up my speed a little bit more than I wanted to,” he said.
“And my goggle strap wasn’t really on tight enough so my goggles sort of fell down a little bit; I train all the time without goggles so it didn’t make me panic,” he added.
“And then I misjudged the wall coming in, I probably could have touched with the other arm,” he said, rattling off a trifecta of “don’t-dos” for swimmers.
“So all those things aside, I’ve got a little bit of room on the technical aspects.”
The more forgotten story of the night at the pool was the Olympic record set by China’s Shiwen Ye, who won the women’s 200-metre individual medley in 2:07.57, beating second place Alicia Coutts of Australia by almost a full second.
Ye had been excoriated in some areas for her amazing swims, all but branded a drug cheat when American coach John Leonard called her performances “disturbing” and “unbelievable.”
But the 16-year-old was unfazed.
“It’s OK, it didn’t affect me,” she said of the media coverage.
American bronze medallist Caitlin Leverenz wouldn’t be drawn into the controversy.
“She’s an amazing swimmer and she had another great race tonight and the first one to take home two Olympic golds is pretty incredible,” she said.
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He has dominated his sport more than any other man or woman, now the owner of 19 Olympics medals after an individual silver in the 200-metre butterfly and a gold in the 4x200 freestyle relay, won at the London Games on Tuesday night.
It is a jaw-dropping accomplishment, incomprehensible on some levels, and a testament to otherworldly abilities. On the same night, in the same pool, for someone who isn’t as naturally gifted or, possibly, as mentally driven, another achievement was smaller, but no less important.
Calgary’s Brent Hayden, who has been to three Olympics without knowing the feeling of even swimming in an individual final is not in Phelps’s league, but earning a chance to swim for an individual medal in Wednesday’s 100-metre freestyle final had him choking back tears.
“Sorry,” he said, while taking a few seconds to get composed, “third Olympics, first individual final. It’s what I’ve dreamed of since I was a little kid, you know.
“It means everything.”
Hayden finished fourth in his semifinal in 48.21 on Tuesday and will be seeded sixth in Wednesday’s final, the first time a Canadian has contested an Olympic men’s 100-metre freestyle final in more than half a century.
Contesting finals — and winning medals in them — comes almost as naturally as breathing to Phelps, the American wunderkind, who passed legendary Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina’s career total of 18.
“It has been a pretty amazing career but we still have a couple of races left,” said Phelps, who will also swim the 200-metre individual medley and the 100-metre butterfly here.
But it is a perhaps a sign of Phelps’s fast-fading dominance that he tied the record by being edged by France’s Chad le Clos in a dramatic duel.
Phelps had won three straight Olympic 200-metre butterfly golds, is the world and Games record holder in the event but he misjudged the wall slightly at the finish, coming second in 1:53.01 to le Clos’s winning time of 1:52.96.
“Phelps is my hero and I love the guy,” said le Clos. “To beat him, I can’t believe it. You don’t understand what this means to me, this is the greatest moment of my life.
Phelps’s 19th medal was ridiculously easy as he anchored the American relay team that swam in 6:59.70 to France’s silver medal time of 7:02.77. China was third in 7:06.30.
“What we talked about in the (pre-race) huddle is I thanked those guy for helping me get to this moment,” he said.
“I was like ‘you better give me a big lead going into the last leg’ and they gave it to me. I thank them for being able to allow me to have this moment.”
Hayden will never have as many moments as Phelps but it doesn’t matter. The Olympics are about pushing oneself to the limit under excruciating attention and a large dose of pressure.
And considering he got hit with a wave, couldn’t see particularly well and kind of made an error at the finish of the race, shaving a few tenths of a second off might not be that hard.
“I was a little too shallow coming off the wall so I sort of nailed an incoming wave and had to build up my speed a little bit more than I wanted to,” he said.
“And my goggle strap wasn’t really on tight enough so my goggles sort of fell down a little bit; I train all the time without goggles so it didn’t make me panic,” he added.
“And then I misjudged the wall coming in, I probably could have touched with the other arm,” he said, rattling off a trifecta of “don’t-dos” for swimmers.
“So all those things aside, I’ve got a little bit of room on the technical aspects.”
The more forgotten story of the night at the pool was the Olympic record set by China’s Shiwen Ye, who won the women’s 200-metre individual medley in 2:07.57, beating second place Alicia Coutts of Australia by almost a full second.
Ye had been excoriated in some areas for her amazing swims, all but branded a drug cheat when American coach John Leonard called her performances “disturbing” and “unbelievable.”
But the 16-year-old was unfazed.
“It’s OK, it didn’t affect me,” she said of the media coverage.
American bronze medallist Caitlin Leverenz wouldn’t be drawn into the controversy.
“She’s an amazing swimmer and she had another great race tonight and the first one to take home two Olympic golds is pretty incredible,” she said.
MORE on the Web
Teenage girl puts sword in Michael Phelps and the U.S. dream team
Ryan Lochte wins gold in 400 IM, Michael Phelps fourth: DiManno
FULL LONDON 2012 COVERAGE
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