Michael Phelps. He's a fan of cupping, and now he's come out unscathed in what we'll call a capping.

Phelps was faced with an unusual dilemma just seconds before he hopped in the pool on Tuesday night: his swim cap ripped.

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Michael Phelps wouldn't let a ripped swim cap deter him from his 21st gold Screen Shot

Phelps, who was coming off a gold medal swim in the 200-meter butterfly just an hour prior, pulled the anchor for Team USA. But the only drama of the night came less than a minute before he dove into the pool, when his swim cap instantly tore away as he tried to grip it around his head. Teammate Conor Dwyer, who swam the opening leg of the 4x200-meter relay, gave Phelps his cap.

Yep, that's allowed. And so it was no problem for Phelps, which meant big things for USA swimming yet again.
The greatest swimmer in history held down the anchor leg and propelled Team USA to its fifth gold medal win in the event in the past six Olympics.

Dwyer, Olympic newcomer Townley Haas, Ryan Lochte and Phelps got to the top of the podium by swimming their relay in 7:00.66, beating out Great Britain (7:03.13) and Japan (7:03.50)

Phelps had a 1.76-second lead on Japan when he jumped in. It swelled to more than two seconds halfway through his leg. It wasn't a record-setting swim, but it was dominant. Australia held the lead in the first leg. Dwyer touched off to Haas, who immediately took the lead for the United States. Haas touched the end of his leg at 3:29.37, with a 1:44.1 split -- one of the fastest splits in the history of the event.

Lochte, who took his first medal of these Olympics, gave Phelps a big cushion. It was basically over once Lochte swam his final 50 meters.

Phelps adds to his record total -- 21 golds (and 25 total medals) in his career.