RIO de JANEIRO — If Thursday night’s men’s 200m individual medley final between Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte was the end, as Jim Morrison and the Doors once said, it made — in a riff on what Morrison also told us — for no safety yet a big surprise, a race in which two of the best, ever, pushed each other one final time. Each in his own lane, literally and figuratively, Phelps and Lochte have for years been on a similar quest. Their mission: to push boundaries in search of excellence.
As Morrison put it, to be limitless and free.
After London, these words seemed to apply, and in full measure. Phelps said he was done. He was not. He had unfinished business.
At these Rio 2016 Olympics, a Games he repeatedly has declared will be his last, Phelps on Thursday night staggered the field over the final 100 meters to win the 200m IM, and by nearly two seconds.
To read the rest of this column, please click through to NBCOlympics.com: http://bit.ly/2bay9rT