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As promised, we’re covering another three epic Olympic rivalries that captivated swimming fans around the world. If you missed Part I, you can find it here. Anyhow, let’s dive straight into it.
1. Kosuke Kitajima v. Brendan Hansen
When the top two breaststrokers in the world are at their primes at the same time, fireworks are bound to happen. It’s remarkable when two individuals — more specifically, arch-rivals — single-handedly advance the sport of swimming for what spanned nearly three separate Olympiads.
And this can be seen in their world record progressions. Between Kosuke Kitajima and Brendan Hansen, they broke through the 2:10 barrier in the 200 breaststroke and took the world record all the way down to Kitajima’s 2:07.51. They also exchanged world records in the 100 breaststroke, with Kitajima’s 58.91 marking the first performance under 59 seconds.
In international competition, they faced off countless times on the world’s largest stages. At the 2001 Worlds, Hansen took gold in the 200 breaststroke, with Kitajima taking bronze. At the 2003 Worlds, Kitajima swept both events — with Hansen runner-up in the 100 and third in the 200. In Athens, Kitajima repeated his feat from the year before, emerging as Olympic champion in both distances — with Hansen collecting another silver and bronze behind Kitajima.
Moving into the next Olympiad, Hansen — who allegedly used a recording of Kitajima’s celebration in Athens as his alarm clock for the next four years — emerged as double world champion in 2005, with Kitajima as runner-up in the 100. Hansen defended his 100 world title in 2007, with Kitajima again as runner-up; Kitajima would go on to win the 200 as well.
This set the scene for the two titans of breaststroke to duel it out at the 2008 Olympics once again. Kitajima would emphatically defend both of his breaststroke crowns in emphatic fashion — with Hansen in 4th, just off the podium, in the 100.
Incredibly, their rivalry doesn’t end there: Kitajima, after winning silver in the 200 breaststroke at the 2011 Worlds, would meet Hansen again in the 2012 Olympic final of the 100 breaststroke. This time, Hansen would emerge with a bronze medal, with Kitajima in fifth.
Their battles on the world stage — which transcended multiple championships and Olympic finals — seemed inevitable, with both swimmers demonstrating incredible longevity and continued dominance. Both athletes were also mainstays on their respective medley relays: with the exceptions of the U.S.’s disqualification at the 2007 Worlds and Japan’s 4th-place finish at
the 2011 Worlds, their relay teams never failed to medal. Undoubtedly, they pushed each other to their absolute limits — and pushed the sport to new heights.
2. Ian Thorpe v. Pieter van den Hoogenband
They always say that mid-distance swimmers and sprinters meet for the epic clash that is the 200 freestyle — the discipline that’s right in the sweet spot for both athletes. Such was the case in this rivalry that spanned the early 2000s.
On one hand, there was Ian Thorpe, a teenage superstar who rapidly ascended to become Australia’s greatest — and one of the greatest mid-distance freestylers in history. Then, you had Pieter van den Hoogenband, one of the most efficient and powerful sprinters who had the endurance to go up to the 200.
Their first clash took place at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. The world record, owned by Thorpe, stood at 1:45.51. Van den Hoogenband seized the opportunity: in the semifinals, he broke Thorpe’s record in 1:45.35; just minutes later, Thorpe won the other semifinal in 1:45.37.
The stage was thus set for an epic Olympic final. This time, van den Hoogenband out-dueled Thorpe, 1:45.35 to 1:45.83 — matching his own world record from the semifinals.
Over the next few years, Thorpe would stake his dominance in the event, defeating van den Hoogenband at the 2001 and 2003 Worlds — and taking the world record all the way down to an incredible 1:44.06. At the 2004 Olympics, they would meet again in the Race of the Century, where Thorpe pulled away in the final 40 meters to win the gold in a roller coaster final — avenging his loss from Sydney four years ago.
Athens would be the last time that these two titans of the sport would meet in international competition. In 2006, Thorpe announced his retirement from swimming. Van den Hoogenband would duel none other than Michael Phelps at the 2007 Worlds, taking silver behind Phelps’ remarkable 1:43.86 — a performance that took down Thorpe’s record that had been expected to stand for over a decade.
3. Michael Phelps v. Chad Le Clos
Speaking of Phelps, this was some rivalry. In fact, there’s an argument to be made that Le Clos was one of the reasons — even if it was a small reason — that Phelps returned to the water.
At the 2012 London Olympics, the man known in history to be on the winning side of close finishes settled for silver in the 200 butterfly behind Chad Le Clos by five one-hundredths of a
second. In an event that had been known to be his bread-and-butter, Phelps seemed vulnerable, and Le Clos seemed poised to take Phelps’ place atop men’s swimming.
Phelps would retire after London and, after a few challenging months that he has since shared with the swimming community, returned to the water to make his comeback. In Phelps’ absence, Le Clos began to stake his dominance on the world stage, claiming world gold in both butterfly events the following year.
Phelps, meanwhile, launched what can be said to be a revenge tour. Despite his absence from the 2015 Worlds, Phelps went on to set the top times in the world in the 100 butterfly, 200 butterfly, and 200 IM at the U.S. Nationals — in particular, his time in the 100 butterfly eclipsed Le Clos’s winning time in the same event at the 2015 Worlds.
As such, you could not have asked for a more dramatic lead-up to the Olympic final in Rio. In London, Phelps took lane 6, with Le Clos in lane 5; this time around, Phelps lined up in lane 5, with Le Clos in 6. And the antics started in the ready room during the semifinals the day before. Le Clos’s shadow-boxing moves, coupled with Phelps’ look of what can only be described as perplexity and disgust, only heightened the pressure as the final loomed.
Needless to say, the final did NOT disappoint. Not only did you have Phelps — who had wanted four years to avenge his loss in London — next to defending Olympic champion Le Clos, but you also had reigning world champion Laszlo Cseh in the race. As the race unfolded, Phelps emphatically took the lead and held off not only a fast-charging Le Clos down the stretch, but up-and-coming swimmers over a decade his junior. In a winning margin of 0.04 seconds, Phelps regained his 200 butterfly crown from Le Clos, who finished just off the podium in fourth.
Incredibly, there’s more to this rivalry than you would think. In the 2016 Olympic final of the 100 butterfly, Phelps and Le Clos would tie for the silver medal, along with Cseh. Perhaps this was the most fitting way to draw the curtain on one of the most intriguing rivalries the sport has seen in recent memory.