The curse has been lifted. Finally a male swimmer has managed to win the same event in three Olympiads in a row – and he’s done it twice.
But it took the greatest of all time, with all his experience, skills, wit, two unfamiliar defeats, mental toughness and never-say-die attitude to do it. While his butterfly gold last night was stunning, his 200IM on Thursday night was one for the ages, a race that swimming fans will talk about over and over.
After a disappointing first race and a second that saw an unusual mistake cost him the win in the final metres, Phelps approached the 200IM with the mindset of only one possible outcome – winning.
After the 400IM, Phelps knew he could not match Lochte’s power on the breaststroke, nor his endurance on the final leg. So he took on the race fast, taking control early.
He was comfortably ahead on the butterfly, dipping under world-record pace before going hard on the backstroke, pulling away from Lochte and the rest of the field.
On the breaststroke leg Phelps kept pushing, riding the water high with long full strokes and maintaining that gap over his compatriot. With 25 metres to go and still under world record pace, Phelps started to tighten up badly. But he held on.
This was one he was just not going to lose. He kept fighting off the hard-charging Lochte. His pride and heart took over. This was, in my opinion, the biggest win of his career.
The technicalities were flawless. The start, turns and underwater swims were impeccable. The plan made sense and was executed to perfection.
He had the mental toughness to pick himself up and put together a brilliant performance after two disappointing outings. The race marked the end of the Lochte v Phelps encounters, and what a fitting finale that was.
Any lingering doubts on who the greatest swimmer of all time is have now been put to rest.
* ElHamawy is an ex-swimmer for Egypt’s acclaimed Gezira Club.
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