Olympics, Day 4: Michael Phelps and the Final Five Make It Happen

Michael Phelps continued to be the best TV Tuesday night as he took back his 200m butterfly from South Africa’s Chad Le Clos, who, as it turns out, didn’t even make the podium. He came in fourth. While many Americans laughed loudly in their living rooms — apparently Le Clos shouldn’t have wasted precious energy trying to get into Phelps’s head — Phelps handled the win with more sportsmanship.

Related: Chad le Clos Fell to Michael Phelps, and the Internet Tore Him to Shreds

Sure, he initially celebrated as though he was Game of Thrones‘ Night King, raising applause instead of the dead.

But he and Le Clos ultimately hugged it out while still in the pool. Perhaps Phelps realized Le Clos had lit the fire under him that he needed to defeat the silver and bronze medalists, whose names you probably can’t remember (Japan’s Masato Sakai and Hungary’s Tamas Kenderesi, respectively).

Phelps’ medal ceremony was a tearjerker, as he got more emotional than expected. Then, looking into the crowd, he laughed hard. Why? He later explained, “My boys from Baltimore were down at the other end, and back in Maryland, we all say ‘O!’ for the Orioles during the part of the National Anthem. And all of the sudden I hear them roar ‘O!’ and I knew exactly where it came from, and I just lost it because those guys came down from Baltimore and New York City to be here, and it’s just special to see those guys in the stands.”

As sweet as it was to see Phelps kiss his infant son, Boomer, Phelps’s mother, Debbie, stole that moment when Michael said he had “one more” race to win that night. Her response: “Make it happen.” And he did.

The relay’s most dramatic moment was when Phelps’s cap tore as he tried to put it on. He had to borrow teammate Conor Dwyer’s.

The race’s most beautiful moment? We’d give it to Ryan Lochte’s massive dive into the pool at the start of the third leg. His grandmother knew Lochte would bring home his 12th Olympic medal.

Add it to the tally, boys. (Writing on the wall is probably the least of the Olympic Village’s concerns.)

Related: Why Michael Phelps’ Latest Olympic Masterpiece May Have Been His Most Impressive Yet

The primetime telecast also played the U.S. women’s gymnastics team’s win from earlier in the day. It was almost anticlimactic as a viewer because they were just so jaw-droppingly dominant. It was stuck landing…

After stuck landing.

After stuck landing.

The only real questions were 1.) how nervous Aly Raisman’s mother would look…

And 2.) what the squad’s nickname would be. They staged their own announcement, revealing it’s The Final Five, both because they’re the last team under retiring Marta Karolyi and because next Olympics, teams will shrink to four.

Other must-see moments:

Katie Ledecky continued her own domination, winning the 200m free.

U.S. women’s soccer goalie Hope Solo will try to forget this happened.

It’s still a bad time to be a tennis great. Another one, Serena Williams, exits the Olympics early.