LONDON: Michael Phelps flipped away his cap in disgust, having blown the race with a blunder.
He hardly looked like the swimmer who had just equaled the record for most Olympic medals.
Phelps won his 18th career medal on Tuesday night, but it was only a silver. Having led the entire way in the 200-metre butterfly, he tried to glide to the wall after his final stroke and was out-touched by Chad le Clos of South Africa.
Le Clos pounded the water when he saw the “1” beside his name.
Phelps hung on the lane rope and buried his face in his hands, disgusted with himself for having squandered another chance to win his first gold of these games. He remained stuck on 14 golds after three events in London, to go along with two silvers and two bronzes.
Le Clos won South Africa’s second swimming gold of the games in a time of 1 minute, 52.96 seconds. Phelps finished in 1:53.01, while Japan’s Takeshi Matsuda took the bronze in 1:53.21.
Despite his mistake, Phelps tied Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina for the most Olympic medals. But he wanted to take the mark down with a flourish, not back into it. In fact, this was a shocking mistake by a swimmer who won a memorable race at the Beijing Games when a rival made the very same error.
Four years ago, Milorad Cavic of Serbia thought he had the 100 fly in the bag after his final stroke. Phelps made the split-second decision to get in one more stroke and slammed into the wall – one-thousandth of a second ahead of Cavic.
This time, it was Phelps on the losing end. He was also denied a chance to become the first male swimmer to win the same individual event at three straight Olympics.
He forced a smile while on the podium, not all that convincingly. (AP)
