Michael Phelps of the United States won the Olympic 200 meters individual medley on Thursday to capture the 22nd gold medal of his career and become the first swimmer to win the same event at four consecutive Games.

‘Enough golds to further cement his status as the most-decorated Olympian of all time and ― somehow even more impressively ― enough individual victories to break a more than 2,000-year-old Olympic record, set by Leonidas of Rhodes in 152 B.C., reports The Huffington Post.

In the medley, Brazil’s Thiago Pereira went off fastest, leading from Phelps after the butterfly leg, with Ryan Lochte of the United States and Hagino neck-and-neck just behind.

With the Rio crowd’s excitement mounting, the three turned almost together after the backstroke, with Lochte just 0.01 seconds ahead.

Phelps led from Pereira and Lochte at the final turn and powered on as the other two faded, opening the way for Hagino and Wang to grab the two other medals.

Phelps clocked one minute, 54.66 for a comfortable winning margin of 1.95 seconds.

Japan’s Hiromasa Fujimori was fourth and Lochte fifth in the last individual race of his long career, with a flagging Pereira seventh.

Phelps’ four consecutive golds in the same event are unique for a swimmer, and place him in the same Olympic pantheon as fellow-Americans Al Oerter in the discus and Carl Lewis in the long jump.

‘The win gives Phelps an unprecedented 13th individual Olympic victory (which is to say, not counting his relay wins), one more than Leonidas’ 12 individual victories. The ancient Greek runner won three different events in four consecutive Olympics, stretching from 164 B.C. to 152 B.C.’, reports The Huffington Post.