How about a quick tour? If you notice on the floor, this section was built with the broken backs of John Stockton, Craig Ehlo and Patrick Ewing.
Advertisement
Oh, that new wing of the Hall? I’m not going four more years.
The chances of any other male athlete from any sport eclipsing Phelps’s tally are not so much remote as inconceivable. Four years is a monumental amount of time for a swimmer.
Yeah, that’s right: the greatest ever. What if Phelps decides he hasn’t yet touched the bottom of his talent? “He doesn’t need extra motivation so why give it to him?” Jordan had the 1997-1998 season and Wayne Gretzky had the 1984-1985 season.
If these are the games of big-names retirements, headlined by the farewells of Phelps and Bolt, then logic dictates that the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 must be the games of renewal. Schooling won the gold medal in the men’s 100-meter butterfly and ma.
That’s not the case anymore.
Connor Jaeger of the US took the silver, and Italy’s Gabriele Detti won bronze after overhauling Jordan Wilimovsky of the U.S.in the closing stages. We saw him gaining momentum in the final strokes of the 200m individual medley while the rest of the world exhausted out. “I get to say I was on the team at Michael Phelps’ last Olympics two times, which is cool”.
During the Olympics, Phelps had to navigate that same swim schedule while also adding three more races against top-flight competition from around the world. Twenty-three gold medals is impossible. Illustrating how not-so-simple this medal-counting business is, the official info portal for the Rio Games even has a different number than the USOC, saying the one the Americans will recognise as No. 1000 is really No. 1001.
James Guy is one of the new breed of swimmers in the pool. The people with the next most gold have nine.
The double podium finish caused Brazil to temporarily surge 10 spots in the total medal count, to 16th. They’re just so into Michael Phelps, he has that effect on people.
In the velodrome, defending gold medalist Jason Kenny meets Callum Skinner in an all-Brit final in the men’s sprint at 5:40 p.m. “Now he enjoys it and that’s been great to see”.
What were you doing when you were 15? This is an impressive feat, considering the old record had been standing for over 2,000 years. “I don’t think so boys and girls”, he said.
Similarly it was captured on Friday in Rio as Joseph Schooling, who himself had been inspired by the Phelps phenomenon and was photographed with him as a youngster, stood disbelieving on the top step of the 100-meter butterfly podium above the USA star. Entering into the Rio Olympics in 2016, Phelps still holds 12 records at various junior age groups. London made him mortal but the immortality is back.
“Maybe he will get into commentating, maybe he will find some other business venture he can get involved in but he’s not going to be out of the sport”. “I might have to go with him and take every step with him when he goes to share it. …”
Tennis star Andy Murray took his second gold in consecutive games – the first player to win two golds in singles.
You think his kind of success and marketability didn’t breed resentment? The 20-year-old was also part of the USA’s 4x100m freestyle relay team that claimed the silver medal on August 6.
Swimming the amount of events Phelps did comes with a toll in time and recovery.
Phelps was apparently cajoled into participating in these Games by his soon-to-be wife Nicole after issues away from the pool. That kind of quick turnaround doesn’t allow for world-class performances usually, but Phelps found a way to make it work in his races.
Puerto Rico joins Fiji, Kosovo and Singapore as national Olympic committees that have won first-ever gold medals in Rio. But that was only the beginning of Phelps’ slide.
These Games have been full of milestones for women representing the United States and Ibtihaj Muhammad is the latest to achieve a notable first.
But there will always be a void where Phelps and Bolt once lived so large. “He is human but he came back because he loves it”. Phelps was able to qualify for the Olympics in three individual events. Then at home there has been the recent arrival of his son Boomer, as much a feature for the camera lenses at the Olympic pool as his famous father. But that milestone was surpassed the very next evening when fellow American, Anthony Irvin, 35, won the 50-meter freestyle.
In the same way the statue of Christ the Redeemer dominates the Rio skyline so Michael Phelps now transcends his sport.
There’s a simple answer: He is Michael Phelps, and everything about his career has been impossible.
Gatlin took Saturday’s fastest time in the heats.
What to say, really, about the FINA world championships, which are the premier event in odd-numbered years?
Phelps’ long-time coach Bob Bowman said swimming was unlikely to see anyone of his sort again.
Advertisement
Biles already has three golds from the team final, the all-around and the vault, which she won on Sunday – the most golds by an American female gymnast during one Olympics.
