Michael Phelps shock loss in the 100 butterfly doesn't ruin his sublime Olympics

Published Nov. 15, 2016 2:14 p.m. ET

Chris Chase

After surviving the first six nights of the Rio Olympics without a blemish on his record, Michael Phelps came back to earth, if only temporarily, on Friday night when he was bested in the 100m butterfly for the first time in his Olympic career. The 21-year-old from Texas, by way of Singapore, Joseph Schooling won gold, sending Phelps into a three-way tie for silver.

Phelps had been playing with fire for 12 years in the race, so it was only a matter of time before he got burned. It just happens that said burn came at the most inopportune time - in what was likely the final individual race for the Olympic great and one that could have helped give him a perfect six gold-medal performance in Rio.

After three Games in which he won the splash-and-dash 100 fly by a total of 0.28 seconds - including by 0.04 and 0.01 at successive Games - there was a gut-feeling Phelps was due for a letdown and it rang true Friday in the form of a huge 0.75-loss. It was predestined when Phelps got out too slow and was unable to make ground on Schooling who led the entire way.

When you're in the middle lanes in the final of the 100m butterfly, the talent is there, so the race becomes a mixed of skill and luck (let's say 80/20 - and the only reason luck is so low is that the skill ends up creating a lot of it).

Did you pace yourself well to peak with maximum effort inside the flags? Did you stay within yourself and have your own race rather than over-swim or get sucked into one you didn't want to swim? Did you leave it all in the pool? Did you hit the walls at top speed or were you in between strokes, leading to a glide or half-stroke into the turn and finish?

Twice before Phelps has gotten to the finish of the 100 fly at the Olympics and had to decide whether to take a frantic final stroke or glide into the wall and hope he had enough momentum to propel him to gold. Twice before he's picked right, including in that wild win over Milorad Cavic in the Beijing Games. The luck was bound to run out and, Friday, the bad luck was in the form of a competitor who went the third-fastest time in history. It didn't matter whether he had a good start (he did) or good turn (he did) or a strong finish (eh). Schooling was just better.

However, while the loss stings the pain won't last long, if at all. This was a house-money Olympics for Phelps ever since he won his second gold. Following a win in a relay nobody gave the Americans a chance in (the 4x100 free), Phelps took down the field in a 200 butterfly race that was so competitive the reigning champ and Phelps' would-be, cocky usurper Chad Le Clos didn't even medal.

Given that the U.S. is a virtual lock to win gold in the final event in the swimming program - the men's 4x100 medley relay - Phelps will exit Rio with five golds and one silver, a haul even the most optimistic Phelps Phans would have easily taken prior to the Opening Ceremony.

Yes, Phelps desperately wanted the 100 fly. Yes, he desperately wanted to get back into the four-straight club (which he joined on Thursday with his fourth consecutive win in the same event, finally giving track legends Al Oerter and Carl Lewis some company 20 years after the latter became the second member of that group). Yes, getting so tantalizingly close to a perfect six-for-six Rio will make for a long night and be the subject of some stray thoughts throughout the years. But 24 hours from now, when Phelps and his American teammates are atop the medal podium again, the bad taste of Friday will be gone and, like a piece of art, we'll be able to step back to admire what Phelps did this week.

Despite the one race that got away, the Rio Olympics will be a massive triumph for Michael Phelps, the greatest swimmer who ever lived and the finest athlete the Olympics has ever seen.