“Clearly from a team perspective we are just focussed on getting the best performances that we can, regardless of the circumstances”, he said, sitting alongside Phelps. Gary Hall was the first at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.
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Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time with 18 gold medals among his career haul of 22, said it was a dream come true to be chosen to carry the USA flag in Friday’s opening ceremony at the Rio Games.
While Phelps did have some concerns about the physical toll of marching in the opening ceremony rather than spending a relaxing night in front of the television, he couldn’t pass up the chance to carry the flag. “I want to do it, I have to do it”.
Phelps will certainly be hard to miss at the Maracana.
The selection by US team captains of a twice convicted drunk driver as Team USA’s standard bearer will certainly be viewed by some as a curious and controversial move but it will make NBC happy.
Phelps conceded he wasn’t at his best for the London Games and didn’t really want to be there.
The pair have qualified for one more clash in that event in Rio, with Phelps again finishing first and Lochte – the world champion and record holder in the event – second in one of the highlights of the US trials.
Pope Francis yesterday urged athletes heading to the Rio Olympics to fight the “good fight”, aiming not for medals but solidarity in a world “sick with cruelty”. Phelps’ outfit will be specially fitted with an electroluminescent panels for a special feature. He added that that ceremony was much more than medals.
Unlike a lot of Olympic years, fans may consciously have to root for simple events like finding keys in order for these games to be successful.
Now, he’s received an even bigger accolade.
When Michael Phelps began training at Arizona State University past year, he brought a spotlight to the school and its swim program led by his coach Bob Bowman.
“We’ve had this problem for how many Olympics?” He came back with a rekindled passion for swimming, only to run into another major challenge when he was arrested for the second time on drunken driving charges.
Phelps and his fiancee, Nicole Johnson, welcomed a son, Boomer, in May.
He reversed his decision to retire, but insists this will be his final Olympics.
Morozov and Lobintsev, both relay medal winners at past Olympics, have never failed a test but were last week banned from the Rio Games by FINA along with countrywoman Daria Ustinova after having their names raised in the McLaren report on state-sponsored doping in Russian Federation.
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Lochte, who turned 32 on Wednesday, said the color had the added advantage of covering up any gray that was creeping in.
