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RIO DE JANEIRO — Michael Phelps captured his 20th Olympic gold medal in dramatic fashion Tuesday, sealing victory with a kiss from baby son Boomer, before adding a staggering 21st before the night was over.
The American crushed fierce rival Chad le Clos to regain his 200 meters butterfly title in a dust-up bristling with tension, celebrating by pointing to the sky and gesturing to the Rio crowd to “bring the noise” — an order they duly obeyed.
Katinka Hosszu and Katie Ledecky struck further blows for girl power, but again it was all about Phelps, who later anchored the American 4x200 freestyle relay team to gold as the clock edged toward midnight.
Milking the acclaim of the crowd, Phelps climbed, Wimbledon tennis-style, past a bank of poolside photographers to kiss little Boomer and fiancee Nicole Johnson after an emotional medals ceremony.
“That event is kind of like my bread and butter,” Phelps told reporters. “That was the last time I’ll ever swim it. Having that come to an end, it’s weird, it’s crazy to think about.
“There wasn’t a shot in hell I was losing that race,” he added. “And if I did I was leaving everything in the pool.”
Entering the arena like a gladiator, his face a granite mask of concentration, Phelps dominated a grudge final le Clos had billed as “Ali versus Frazier” to become the oldest individual swimming gold medalist in Olympic history at 31.
South African Le Clos, who won by a fingertip four years ago in London to rob the American of a hat trick of titles, faded badly down the home stretch to miss out on a medal.
The world record holder and most decorated athlete in Olympic history, Phelps clocked 1min 53.36sec to add to his staggering title tally as Japan’s Masato Sakai finished strongly for a surprise silver in 1:53.40.
Hungary’s Tamas Kenderesi took bronze in 1:53.62.
Still, Phelps was not done, putting the gloss on a fourth straight American victory in the 4x200m free, cruising home almost two and a half seconds ahead of Britain’s James Guy in the swimming equivalent of baseball’s home-run trot around the bases. Japan took the bronze.
Hungary’s “Iron Lady” Hosszu completed the individual medley double by winning the 200m final in 2:06.58, making it three golds and counting after also claiming the 100m backstroke crown.
“Coming into Rio I didn’t have any Olympic medals so I would have been okay with any color,” she said. “To have three golds, it’s unreal.”
Britain’s Siobhan-Marie O’Connor took silver in 2:06.88. Bronze went to American Maya Dirado, touching in 2:08.79.
Ledecky scooped her second gold of the Games after holding off a brave charge from Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom in the women’s 200m freestyle.
The American phenom, who won the 400m title with a stunning world record on day two, clocked 1:53.73 to win by 0.35 seconds from Sjostrom. Australia’s Emma Mckeon took bronze.
Elsewhere, New Zealand’s rugby hopes took a blow when superstar Sonny Bill Williams suffered a tournament-ending injury in its shock 14-12 opening defeat to Japan. Chinese weightlifter Deng Wei won the women’s 63kg category with a world record after Taiwanese rival Lin Tzu-chi pulled out amid reports of a failed dope test.
The sixth-seeded Khasan Khalmurzaev of Russia beat Travis Stevens of the United States to win the judo gold medal in the 81-kg division. It was Russia’s second gold in judo at the Games. The bronze medals were won by Sergiu Toma of the United Arab Emirates and Takanori Nagase of Japan.
In the women’s 63-kg division, top-seeded Tina Trstenjak of Slovenia took gold. Trstenjak beat second-seeded Clarisse Agbegnenou of France. The bronze medals were won by Yarden Gerbi of Israel and Anicka Van Emden of the Netherlands.
South Korean fencer Park Sang-young came from behind in the final seconds to snatch gold from a man twice his age, upsetting 41-year-old Hungarian Geza Imre to become the youngest Olympic epee champion in over a century.
The silver finish for Imre, who took bronze in 1996 before Park was a year old, made the Hungarian the oldest Olympic fencer to take an individual medal since 1952.
