Michael Phelps collected his unprecedented third straight Olympic 200-meter individual medley gold medal on Thursday night at the Aquatics Centre.
No male swimmer had ever done that until Thursday, including Kosuke Kitajima, whose bid fell short in both the 100- and 200-meter breaststroke races in London. But like every other swimming record, that one, too, seemed destined to be shattered by Phelps.
With the crowd cheering wildly for him two days after he won his record-breaking 19th medal to ascend to the top of the all-time medal charts, Phelps completed the race in 1 minute, 54.27 seconds.