Peerless Phelps seals 20th and 21st Olympic golds

Tears welled in his eyes as he listened to the national anthem – until one of his buddies from Baltimore cracked him up that shouting out “O” like they do at Camden Yards before Orioles’ games.

Without a doubt, 19-year-old swimming sensation Katie Ledecky has been one of biggest storylines to emerge from the Rio Olympics. The “total audience delivery” figure is a statistic NBC hurriedly invented when it saw sharp declines in its traditional ratings for the first couple of nights of the Rio de Janeiro Games.

Not all the American stars were winners Tuesday, though. Serena Williams lost on the tennis court and the USA women’s soccer team gave up a late goal and ended up in a draw with Colombia. Inexplicably, the U.S. Olympic icon broke out in a fit of laughter.

In an unforgettable display of Olympic power Michael Phelps won two more finals to take his historic all-time record load to 21 golds and entrench his legendary status.

After claiming his 20th title in five Olympics – beating old rival Chad le Clos in the process – Phelps stood in the pool striking a pose like a Roman emperor as he soaked up the acclaim.

But in 2014, Phelps had a change of heart and chose to compete in the 200m butterfly, specifically because he thought the field was slow and he had a chance to win gold.

On Tuesday, Phelps’ face bared a familiar scowl as he walked out on to the deck.

Phelps touched the wall in one minute, 53.36 seconds, slower than his 2012 silver medal performance, with Sakai finishing in 1:53.40. Hungary’s Tamas Kenderesi, who beat Phelps by 16 hundredths of a second in their semifinal, took the bronze in 1:53.62.

With challengers all around, Phelps simply wouldn’t be denied.

It means that, if Phelps were a country, he would rank 39th equal with Ethiopia in the all-time Olympic gold medal table.

“That hurt pretty badly”, Ledecky said after the race.

Afterward, Phelps kindly offered tips to le Clos, who was then 20, and the two even discussed getting together to go shark diving in le Clos’ native South Africa.