Michael Phelps makes yet more history to win 22nd Olympic gold

Michael Phelps is used to rewriting history -- now he's eclipsing it too.

You have to go back around 2,160 years, give a week or two, to find an athlete who could challenge the imperious record held by the "Baltimore Bullet."

The US star claimed the 22nd Olympic gold of his Olympic career Thursday after powering past the opposition in the final of the 200-meter individual medley

.Michael Phelps won the 200-meter individual medley for the fourth successive Games.

That victory, the 13th individual triumph of his Olympics career, meant he surpassed the greatest athlete of ancient Greece and indeed of the Games -- Leonidas of Rhodes.

Phelps, who took his tally to four gold medals at Rio by winning the event for the fourth consecutive Games in succession, moved ahead of Leonidas after edging out Japan's Kosuke Hagino and China's Wang Shun.

The achievements of Leonidas, a runner who competed between 164 and 152 BC, were recorded by Philostratus the Athenian and Pausanias who told of the his 12 triumphs, according to the official Olympics website.

Perhaps in another 2,000 years the stories of Phelps and his exploits will be shared around the table given his astonishing record.