Oldest individual Olympics gold medallist – 31 years
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Upon winning the men’s 200 meter butterfly, Phelps has become the oldest individual Olympic gold medalist. He turned 31 during the trials and during the Olympics and when he won the men’s 200 fly, he was 31 years and 71 days old. That is old enough to be the holder of this record.
However, for the course of the Rio Olympics, a palpable threat to this record had been Phelps’s teammate Ryan Lochte and 35-year-old Anthony Ervin.
Lochte turned 32 a week ago and if he had won the men’s 200 meter individual medley, he would have held this record. But now Lochte has been beaten in the 200 IM and this happened to be his only individual event at Rio.
However, while Phelps did break and conquer this record, he held it only for a day until sprinter Anthony Ervin essayed a miraculous comeback and won gold at the men’s 50 meter freestyle this morning. The record of oldest individual gold medalist, though broken by Phelps, is now Ervin’s.
