Mission accomplished, says Phelps after winning the 200m butterfly

The 31-year-old admitted that one of the main factors in his decision to return to swimming after his 2012 retirement was to seek redemption in the 200m butterfly.

Rio de Janeiro: Olympic swimming legend Michael Phelps has said his victory in the 200 metre butterfly final along with his 4x200m freestyle relay gold at the Rio Olympics were the culmination of a four-year mission.

Phelps won the event at the 2004 Athens Games and again in Beijing four years later. He also set the 200m butterfly world record at the 2009 world championships in Rome, a mark that still stands, reports Xinhua.

Phelps also secured his third gold medal of the Olympics, 21st of his staggering career, in the 4x200m freestyle relay final on Tuesday.

Phelps joined Conor Dwyer, Ryan Lochte and Townley Haas to hit the wall in 7 minutes 0.66 seconds at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium.

Despite his overall dominance, the American had to settle for silver in the 200m butterfly category at the London 2012 Games, where he was pipped by his South African rival Chad le Clos.

He did leave every ounce of energy in the pool, staving off a storming finish from Japan’s Masato Sakai to win by just four hundredths of a second.

The 31-year-old admitted that one of the main factors in his decision to return to swimming after his 2012 retirement was to seek redemption in the 200m butterfly.

“When I came back I said that I wanted the 200m fly,” he said, adding that the realisation that this is his last Olympics was starting to sink in.

--IANS