Step aside, Leonidas: Phelps poised to break 2,168-year-old Olympic record
As if Michael Phelps didn't already own enough Olympic records. By virtue of his two golden performances in the pool on Tuesday at Rio 2016, he's now on the verge of breaking one that has stood for two millennia.
The unparalleled American swimmer, 31, captured gold in the 200m butterfly before returning to the water later in the evening to anchor the United States' dominant triumph in the 4x200m freestyle relay.
Those two triumphs brought the Olympic icon's absurd haul to 21 gold medals, and 25 overall - both far and away the most of all-time. He became the oldest male swimmer to taste individual gold, breaking a record that was set in 1920 by Hawaiian surfer Duke Kahanamoku.
The accolades kept rolling in.
Nobody had ever won Olympic gold in swimming 12 years apart ahead of last night; Phelps proceeded to make that record his own by blowing Chad le Clos away. Add another benchmark to the pile.
Related: Phelps gets revenge on le Clos, captures gold in 200m butterfly
And yet, his most incredible achievement may still be on the horizon.
With his 12th individual gold medal in the aforementioned 200m butterfly, Phelps equaled a mark that was set by ancient Greek sprinter Leonidas of Rhodes in 152 BC.
Seriously. Per the Olympic Games' official website:
Leonidas of Rhodes was one of the most famous runners in Antiquity. His was a unique achievement, even by today's standards. For four consecutive Olympiads (164-152 B.C.), he won three races, - the stade race, the diaulos race and the armour race. He won a total of 12 Olympic victory wreaths. He was acclaimed as a hero by his compatriots.
Leonidas won the stadion (sprint), the diaulos, (a run twice the length of the stadion), and the hoplitodromos (a diaulos while wearing armor and carrying a shield) in four straight Olympiads.
His achievements, which have stood for over 2,000 years, were documented by Philostratus and Pausanias. You had a good run, man, but this is almost certainly the end.
Phelps has two chances to surpass Leonidas in Rio, hitting the pool in both the 200m individual medley and the 100m butterfly in the coming days.