Transformative

During the 2016 Olympic men’s 200m butterfly final, a great rivalry was talked up between Michael Phelps and Chad Le Clos. Le Clos had shocked the swimming community four years ago by beating Phelps in the same race at the London Olympics and now at Rio the world waited in anticipation to see if he could do it again. How much of this rivalry was just media hype is unclear, however, what was clear was that during the Rio rematch both athletes had two different goals, Le Clos wanted to beat Phelps whereas Phelps wanted to win. This difference in mindset was a major factor in why Phelps eventually won back the gold and Le Clos didn’t finish on the podium.