Another final, another gold, for the greatest Olympian of all time. Michael Phelps went head-to-head with old foe Ryan Lochte, but Phelps destroyed the field to clock up yet another Olympic triumph.

Michael Phelps produced another outstanding performance in the pool as he blew away the field to win the 200m individual medley for the fourth consecutive Olympics.

Two days after securing double gold in the pool in the 200m butterfly and 4x200 freestyle, the American lined up against his great rival and compatriot Ryan Lochte.

Although it wasn't Lochte who proved to be Phelps's greatest challenge in the race, with Japan's Kosuke Hagino pushing Phelps hardest.

But as soon as Phelps hit his stride in the third leg of the medley, the breaststroke, he was clear of the field, and simply pulled away with a devastating freestyle leg to finish in a time of 1:54.66 to claim a stunning 22nd career Olympic gold medal.

Lochte, who led at the halfway point, couldn't live with Phelps in the second half of the race and he secured his win by a length

This latest triumph brings the American's unprecedented Olympic gold medal tally to 22 as he becomes the third Olympian to win the same individual event at four straight Games, joining discus thrower Al Oerter and Carl Lewis in the long jump in achieving the feat.

(DW)