"I probably could have gone 1:50 that day"-Michael Phelps recalls iconic 200m butterfly race from 2008 Beijing Olympics when water entered his goggles

By Soumik Bhattacharya

Modified Jul 24, 2024 19:20 GMT

Follow Us

Share

0 Discuss

Michael Phelps recently went down memory lane to recall his iconic performance back at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. This came during a recent conversation between the legendary Olympian and five-time World Championships gold medalist Leon Marchand in a joint interview.

During the conversation, the interviewer asked Merchand to pick his favorite moment from the illustrious career of Phelps. Replying to this, the 24-year-old chose Phelps' 200m butterfly race in the finals of the 2008 Olympics.

It was during this race that Michael Phelps' goggles were filled with water owing to which his vision got impaired. Despite this, the 23-time Olympic gold medalist continued the race even while facing such a critical situation and won the gold medal with a time of 1:52.03.

He defeated the likes of four-time Olympic silver medal-winning Hungarian swimmer Laszlo Cseh and four-time Olympic medalist Takeshi Matsuda despite being visually blocked for the majority of the race.

Even though it was one of the best performances of Michel Phelps' career, he recently stated that he could have finished the race in 1:50 if not for the goggle mishap. In the joint setting (along with Marchand) with Forbes, Phelps stated:

"I was so annoyed about it. I probably could have gone 1:50 that day, you know, to be honest. I think that was the reason I was most upset."

---

Michael Phelps lauds Leon Matchand for his skillset and prowess

Leon Marchand and Michael Phelps at the World Swimming Championships (Image via Getty)

The bond between Michael Phelps and Leon Marchand has grown amicably well in recent times. This bond developed between the two is not just because of the records that Marchand has set in recent years, but due to the respect that both swimmers have for each other and because of the hardworking traits they both share.

In a recent interview with Forbes, Phelps was all praise for the French swimmer and also lauded him for his skillsets in the breaststroke events and the 400m individual medley. He stated:

"His 400-meter individual medley is awesome, but obviously, he’s an unbelievable breaststroker. He swims a great 200-meter butterfly. He's not just a one trick pony. I think it'll be fun to really see him expand if he wants to, or really hyper focus and take it to a new level. I think Leon is somebody who is special."

During the interview, Phelps also lauded Merchand for the immense hard work that he puts in before each and every race.