Day four of the Olympic Games in Rio saw U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps net two more gold medals, bringing his career total to 21, after he narrowly won the 200 meter butterfly and anchored the men's 4x200 meter freestyle relay team.
Phelps – the most decorated athlete in Olympics history – was able to knock off archrival Chad le Clos of South Africa with a final time of 1:53.36. Le Clos, the defending champion, faded out down the final stretch and eventually placed fourth, behind Japan’s Masato Sakai, who took second, and Tamas Kenderesi of Hungary, who took third.
Another star of the U.S. team, Katie Ledecky, won her second gold medal of the games by winning the 200 meter freestyle. She also won gold Sunday in the 400 freestyle, beating her own world record in that event.
Ledecky, who dominated in the 200 and 400 meter races could become the first Olympian since Debbie Meyer in 1968 to sweep the freestyle category should she win the 800 meter race scheduled for Saturday.
Hungarian swimmer Katinka Hosszu won her third gold medal and set a new Olympic record Tuesday after she glided to victory in the 200 meter individual medley with a time of 2:6.58. She had previously won the 400 meter individual medley on Saturday and the 100 meter backstroke Monday.
Gymnastics: U.S. takes gold
The U.S. women's gymnastics team took gold for a second consecutive Olympics. The team gave retiring national team coordinator Martha Karolyi a fitting send-off in the Olympic finals, putting on a two-hour display of precision and class. Its score of 184.897 was more than eight points clear of silver medalist Russia.
Japan secured a stunning 14-12 victory over New Zealand in the first game of the men’s rugby sevens tournament. New Zealand is a 12-time world series champion and widely regarded as one of the top contenders to win one of the first-ever rugby medals awarded at the Olympics.
In tennis, defending Olympic champion and top singles seed Serena Williams was knocked out of the tournament in a 6-4, 6-3 loss in the third round to Ukraine's Elina Svitolina. Williams made more than three dozen unforced errors, including eight double-faults - five of them in one game. Now the 2012 London gold medalist in singles and doubles is finished in Rio. She and her sister Venus lost in the first round of doubles.
Tennis: Williams exits early
It was another Olympic diving gold for the Chinese. Chen Ruolin and Liu Huixia won the women's 10-meter synchronized platform title Tuesday, making China 3-for-3 in the competition so far. The Chinese have never lost the event at the Olympics. Chen earned her third consecutive gold medal in 10-meter synchro, having won in 2008 and 2012 with different partners. Malaysia earned silver with 344.34 points. Canada took bronze with 336.18.
American Travis Stevens won a silver medal in the men's 81-kilogram division in judo, losing to Russia's Khasan Khalmurzaev in the final. The bronze medals were won by Sergiu Toma of the United Arab Emirates and Takanori Nagase of Japan.
Top seed Slovenian Tina Trstenjak won the women's judo gold in the 63-kilogram division, following in the footsteps of fellow Slovenian and London Games champion Urska Zolnir, who is now on her coaching team. After pinning second-seeded Clarisse Agbegnenou of France to the mat for 20 seconds, just two minutes into the fight, Trstenjak scored an automatic ippon victory. The women's bronze medals were won by Yarden Gerbi of Israel and Anicka Van Emden of the Netherlands.
South Korean Sangyoung Park stormed back to score the final five points and take gold in men's epee Tuesday, in a matchup of the youngest and oldest fencers in the field. Park, just 20, beat 41-year-old Geza Imre of Hungary Imre 15-14. Top-ranked Gauthier Grumier of France won the bronze.
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