Taking individual and team titles in men’s swimming on day four of the 2016 Summer Olympics, Michael Phelps extended his tally to 21 Olympic gold medals.
Phelps, 31, beat defending champion Chad le Clos in the 200-meter butterfly race — “a mission” he had wanted to accomplish after le Clos dramatically beat him out for the gold in London in 2012.
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On Tuesday night, Phelps also helped the U.S. men’s team win the 4×200-meter freestyle relay.
Phelps and le Clos will compete against each other again later this week, in the 100-meter butterfly. Phelps will also try to add other gold medals to his collection, in the 4×100-meter medley relay and the 200-meter individual medley.
“Looking forward to the rest of the week and I’m not even halfway done yet,” Phelps told the BBC.
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The most decorated Olympian of all time, Phelps has won more than twice as many gold medals at the Games as the athlete who is second on the list, former Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina, who won nine.
Phelps returned to the pool just over an hour after his individual triumph to swim in the relay alongside U.S. teammates Conor Dwyer, Francis Haas, and Ryan Lochte, as the BBC and others reported.
Also on Tuesday evening, the American women’s gymnastics team stunned their competitors with decisive performances. The outstanding Simone Biles led the U.S. to its second consecutive gold in team women’s gymnastics by a record margin of 8.209 points.
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