It seems USA 's Michael Phelps, the most decorated athlete in Olympic history, might have missed a medal after being outswam by Australia's Grant Irvine, a long-time fan. Audiences were screaming over the sudden overtake by Irvine at the men's 200-meter butterfly on day three at the Olympic Aquatic Centre.

For the record, Phelps was behind Irvine by 0.09 seconds. The quick turnaround followed after Phelps dashed off the wall at 1:55.6. By any account, the event absolutely caught everyone around, especially since Phelps had just claimed his 19th Olympic gold medal in the 4x100m relay hours ago.

Immediately, swimmer experts called in the event as a special case of being simply in a heat. But, without much doubt, decisions were bound to favor Australia, Brisbane Irvine's significant win, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

The recorded separate occasions wherein Phelps was outswam by two Australians Ian Thorpe and Justine Norris were the 200m freestyle final in Athens and the 200m butterfly in Sydney. Irvine was only the third to beat Phelps but still managed to recall how he was once inspired by the weight of the countless gold, silver and bronze medals all hanging and resting in Phelp's chest altogether.

Irvine declares that he is Phelp's long-time fan and that he definitely had a great time meeting his idol here in Rio. Beating him was completely out of his expectations.

Nevertheless, Irvine finally recalled how close he was in giving up such career following his frustration over losing to 8th place during the Kazan semifinals last year. Ultimately, his greatest disappointment was failing to qualify for the London Games 4 years ago, the Sydney Morning Herald again reported.

Meanwhile, a day ago, Michael Phelps was inarguably in good shape, as seen by the purple marks in his back. The marks are indications of Phelps' regular subscription to "cupping", an ancient Chinese healing method, the New York Times reported.

All points across- Phelps has been reported to be seriously preparing for his gold-medal return in the Rio Olympic 2016's Sunday night. Phelps have also stated days ago his plans of recovering lost sponsorships and reinvigorating his corporate persona, the same way he reinvigorates his body with the "cupping" method. He had had previously dipped himself and got out of legal problems, the Wall Street Journal reported.

And, with his recent brushoff with long-time fan, Irvine, he could only let out a sigh after a long day of helping the US victor over France in a sprint relay, from where he ranked fifth for the semi-finals, and declare that he would probably go to sleep at 3am, get a quick nap and be ready for tonight, the Sydney Morning Herald again reported.

Related
Topics Swimming, Sports, Sports news, Rio Olympics 2016, 2016 Rio Olympics, US