Michael Phelps pads his goldmedal collection with his 22nd after a win in the 200-meter individual medley.
RIO DE JANEIRO — Michael Phelps waggled four fingers, recognizing another historic achievement.
Now, he’s the first swimmer to win the same event at four consecutive Olympics. Ryan Lochte was left in his wake every time.
In what was billed as the final showdown between two of America’s greatest swimmers, Phelps blew away Lochte — and everyone else — to win his fourth gold medal of the Rio Olympics and 22nd overall with a victory in the 200-meter individual medley Thursday night.
Phelps finished a full bodylength ahead of the field after dominating the breaststroke and freestyle legs, finishing in 1 minute, 54.66 seconds.
He has 13 individual golds and 26 medals overall.
“I don’t know how to wrap my head around that,” Phelps said. “It’s been a hell of a career.” That’s an understatement. A 12-time Olympic medalist, Lochte had settled for two silvers and a bronze behind Phelps at the last three Olympics in this event.
This time, he didn’t make the podium.
Leading at the midway point, Lochte faded to fifth — nearly three seconds behind the winner.
“We bring out the best in each other,” he said. “I was a little bummed about my performance, but I was happy for him to get a gold and get one for Team USA.”
Japan’s Kosuke Hagino took the silver; China’s Wang Shun claimed the bronze.
But Phelps was in a league of his own. As usual.
He has one more individual event at what he insists will really be his final Olympics — remember, he retired once — and will look to add a fourth straight gold in the 100 butterfly.
Then, he’ll close out these Olympics in the 4x100 medley relay. There seems little doubt he’ll go 6-for-6.
“I’ve been able to kind of finish how I wanted to,” Phelps said.
It was quite a night for the powerful American team, which picked up two more golds. Ryan Murphy completed a sweep of the men’s backstroke events in the 200, and Sugar Land’s Simone Manuel tied Canadian Penny Oleksiak, 16, for the top spot in the 100 freestyle.
Murphy extended American dominance of the backstroke events, which goes back to 1992.
The Barcelona Games were the last time the United States lost a men’s final in those events.
Three days after winning the 100 back, Murphy touched first again in 1:53.62.
Murphy became the third American man in the last five Olympics to take both races. Aaron Peirsol pulled off the sweep at Athens in 2004; Lenny Krayzelburg claimed both golds at the 2000 Sydney Games.
“My goal was to win one gold,” Murphy said. “That was a real breakthrough for me to be able to win that one. The 100 back was an event that comes a little bit more natural. The 200 back is an event I really have to dig deep for, so this one means a little bit more to me.”
Australia’s Mitch Larkin grabbed the silver in 1:53.96, just ahead of Russia’s Evgeny Rylov with the bronze in 1:53.97.
The Olympics came to an end for another U.S. backstroke champion.
Missy Franklin finished 14th in the semifinals of the women’s 200 back — beating out only two other swimmers. It was a far cry from the London Games, where “Missy The Missile” became only the second American woman to take four gold medals in a single Olympics.
This time, she was limited to a single gold, which came for swimming the preliminaries of the 4x200 freestyle relay.
In the only non-American victory of the night, Rie Kaneto of Japan pulled away from Yulia Efimova to take gold in the women’s 200 breaststroke.