In which event did Phelps place fourth at London 2012?

Michael Phelps placed fourth in the men’s 400 m individual medley at the London 2012 Olympics. He finished in 4:09.28, missing the podium by less than a second behind bronze medalist Kosuke Hagino.

The event combines four strokes in this order: butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle. Each stroke covers 100 meters, making the race especially demanding because swimmers must balance technique, pacing, and endurance across the full 400 meters.

Phelps had won this event at both the 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Olympics, and he entered London as the defending champion. Ryan Lochte won gold in London, with Thiago Pereira taking silver and Hagino bronze. Phelps’s fourth-place finish was notable because it was the first time since his Olympic debut in 2000 that he failed to win a medal in an Olympic event he contested.

A common mix-up is confusing this result with Phelps’s 200 m individual medley victory later in London. He also won gold in the 4 × 100 m medley relay, his final Olympic race.