Michael Phelps loses 200m butterfly at the 2011 Charlotte UltraSwim
Fourteen-time Olympic gold medallist, Michael Phelps, once again lost the 200m butterfly at the 2011 North Carolina Charlotte UltraSwim.
This is the second time that the 25-year-old Phelps lost his main event in the last decade. Recently he lost the 200m butterfly event at the 2011 Eric Namesnik Michigan Grand Prix in April 2011. This was the first time that Phelps failed to land on top of
the podium in the butterfly event. Phelps finished fourth in the 200m event at Michigan behind Peng Wu, Marcin Cieslak and Scott T Clary, who earned gold, silver and bronze medals respectively. He stunned the swimming world after his sluggish swim and was
very upset after the disappointing effort.
Michael claimed that the defeat was necessary and he has learned his lesson from the loss. The 25-year-old Phelps tapered his participation to only three events at the second last stop of the 2010-2011 USA Swimming Grand Prix Series. Phelps competed in the
200m back-stroke, 200m butterfly and the 200m freestyle and settled for the gold medal in the back-stroke, silver medal in the butterfly and finished sixth in the 200m freestyle.
Phelps failed to overcome Peng Wu’s 1:56.83 minutes effort that placed him on the top of the podium for the gold medal, where Phelp’s clinched silver medal, clocking a time of 1:58.22 minutes. This was Phelps’s second defeat from Club Wolverine’s Wu, who
earned gold medals on two consecutive stops of the USA Swimming Grand Prix Series.
Michael’s deteriorating performance at the last four stops of Grand Prix Series has raised many questions about his performance at the upcoming world events, including the 2011 Shanghai World Championships and the 2012 London Olympic Games.
Phelps grabbed eight gold medals in the 200m Individual Medley (IM), 400m IM, 100m butterfly, 200m butterfly, 200m freestyle, 4*100m freestyle relay, 4*100m medley relay and the 4*200m freestyle relay. After a hectic schedule in Beijing, Phelps announced
that he will never participate in eight events again.
In addition, the American champion announced that he will target seven events at the 2011 World Championships, explaining that his participation in the events will be finalised after his performances at the remaining stops of the USA Grand Prix Series.
Phelps lost the 200m IM and 400m IM from Ryan Lochte at the 2011 Austin Grand Prix. Later on, he earned five gold medals at the Indianapolis Grand Prix in March but failed to overcome Peng’s effort in the 200m event in the last two stops of the Grand Prix.
Recently, Phelps won a gold medal in the 200m back-stroke and defeated the crowd favourite, Lochte. His stupendous swim in the back-stroke event has made him a strong contender for the 200m back-stroke title at the World Championships in Shanghai.
Phelps, who has dropped one event from his Shanghai medal tally, will now have to choose one event the 200m freestyle, 200m butterfly and the 200m back-stroke. His recent performances have changed the views of swimming commentators but the Olympic champion
wants to make a splash in his last swimming events and has claimed that he will retire after his participation in the 2012 London Olympic Games.
Phelps expressed his desire to win back the crowd in Shanghai by putting on a worthy show. He also claimed that his participation at the London Olympics will be finalised by his coach after his performance at the 2011 World Championships.
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