Michael Phelps to swim in fifth 200m butterfly Olympic final

Phelps went out strong in the race then backed off a little in the final 50 to save his energy for Tuesday’s final.

Le Clos was philosophical about the shadow boxing (watch video below), although when asked about it he replied coyly with his boyish smile: “Oh! If I hit my turns the right way and swim the race I want to swim, that’s all I can do”.

A pair of Hungarians could also be part of the mix. Le Clos was fourth, not bad considering it was the back end of a grueling double, coming less than an hour after he claimed silver in the 200 freestyle. Of course there is a huge rivalry between Michael and myself. “I have no emotion when I’m racing”, he continued. He finished with a time of 1:54.12 and Le Clos came in third with a time of 1:55.19. Because Phelps will no doubt have plenty of inducement to go all out in what should nearly certainly be the final 200-meter race of his career.

The 24-year-old swimmer, who is better known for his butterfly exploits, the stroke in which he earned two medals at the 2012 London Games, had been written off by many as a potential medallist after qualifying seventh fastest from the semifinals. If he does manage to get more hardware around his neck, he might just put his record medal count out of reach for good. He was already set to race in Monday night’s 200-meter butterfly.

“It’s only a semi”, Ledecky said.

It was the second gold of the night for the USA after Katie Ledecky produced an astonishing performance to win gold in the 400m freestyle. He was all smiles while showing off his stars and stripes and his very own “gold medal” while hanging out with his dad in Rio.

Yang tore ahead in the closing stages to win gold in 1:44.65. Sun and Efimova have both been hit with doping violations, the announcement of their names eliciting jeers and boos from the athletes’ section of the stands.

Phelps showed a flash of dominance at a lower-level competition in San Antonio, Texas, last summer, which he swam in because he was banned from the world championships following a second DUI arrest.

“You’re probably going to see a lot of people speaking up more”, Phelps said.

“We’re lifting skin, connected tissue, muscle and again an opportunity to bring that blood flow into the tissue that much quicker”, said massage therapist Stacie Nevelus.

“I wish somebody would do something about it”.