RIO DE JANEIRO — After the exhilaration of winning Olympic gold in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay, Michael Phelps got down to more mundane business Monday afternoon with his qualifying heat for the 200-meter butterfly.
He finished with the fifth best time at 1 minute, 55.73 seconds, easily earning himself a spot in Monday night's semifinals. His top rivals in the event, Chad le Clos of South Africa and Laszlo Cseh of Hungary, both finished ahead of him in qualifying.
Phelps didn't get to bed until 3 a.m. after the excitement of the relay and was on an 11 a.m. bus to the Olympic Aquatics Stadium. He said he got a massage, sat in an ice bath and gobbled a pound of spaghetti to recover.
The 31-year-old appeared sore and was subdued during a brief session with reporters.
"Quick turnaround," he said. "But the good thing is we have a long time in between prelims and finals, so we are able to rest."
Phelps also fielded a few questions about cupping, the therapeutic treatment that leaves circular bruises on his back and shoulders and has become a buzz topic over the last 24 hours.
He was sporting a dark bruise on his right shoulder, where he tends to get most sore.
"I've done it before meets pretty much every meet I go to," he said. "I just asked for a little cupping yesterday because I was sore, and the trainer hit me pretty hard with one."