Katie Ledecky wins gold in women’s 200 free

Mark it down. This is going to be a Katie Ledecky Olympics.

Instead it was Phelps, the most successful Olympian of all time, who stole the limelight, extending his career medal tally to 25 by adding golds number 20 and 21.

A jubilant Japan finished second while Great Britain claimed the bronze medal. That allowed Chad le Clos of South Africa to stunningly win gold in an event that Phelps had dominated for the better part of a decade.

“I was prepared for any circumstance, whether we were ahead or behind”, Ledecky said. “Michael Phelps doesn’t have the top 11 times in the world”, he said.

Phelps’ family embraced – a routine scene at the Olympics for a dozen years.

Britain’s Siobhan-Marie O’Connor took silver, with Maya DiRado of the US winning a bronze to add to her silver in the longer distance. It was Phelps’ 23rd medal overall. Ledecky knew this was the most vulnerable of her three individual events.

He owns the 200 fly world record, set in Rome in 2009, and the Olympic record, set in Beijing in 2008.

For now, he added, “I’m really, really exhausted”. “That event was kind of like my bread and butter”.

The following are 10 facts you should know about this Olympic gold medalist. “Having that come to an end, it’s weird, it’s insane to think about”.

Britain’s Siobhan-Marie O’Connor was second fastest.

The coach of the Argo swim team in the 1970’s also has Olympic ties.

United States’ Missy Franklin competes in a women’s 200-meter freestyle heat during the swimming competitions at the 2016 Summer Olympics, Monday, Aug. 8, 2016, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Franklin was the darling of the London Games, a high schooler who captured four gold medals and the hearts of everyone back home with her bubbly personality. She broke it twice in two weeks in August 2014 – the second time at the Pan Pacific Championships in Australia – but she had not bettered it since, until Sunday night. Australian Emma McKeon took the bronze with a time of 1:54.92. But Ledecky beat them all to the wall.

Smith, who was thrilled to finish less than two seconds behind Ledecky in the 400m free at the United States trials, said she knew Ledecky was primed for something big.

“I didn’t think too much”, Ledecky told the Mercury News.

Both swimmers have far more to accomplish in Rio.

At his fifth, and supposedly last Olympics, Michael Phelps finally let his guard down, sobbing along with his teammates after collecting his 19th gold medal by helping the USA win the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay in Rio. “Every time she gets in the water, it’s like a world record”.

The International Paralympic Committee’s blanket ban on Russia is in sharp contrast to the earlier decision by the IOC to allow individual sports to decide whether Russians can compete in the Olympics.