It’s unfathomable that the Americans would leave off a swimmer with 18 golds and 22 medals overall, especially after a dismal performance at last year’s worlds when the USA didn’t even qualify for the final – a performance that was especially galling to Phelps, who had to sit out the meet as part of his punishment for a second drunken-driving arrest. All five women earned a spot in either the all-around or event finals, or in the case of Biles and Raisman, both. He has a 3-month-old son, Boomer, and a fiancee, Nicole Johnson. As reported by Huffington Post, Phelps wrapped an arm around them.
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United States’ Michael Phelps encourages his teammates in the final of the men’s 4×100-metre freestyle relay. Also at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium, American star swimmer Michael Phelps received his 19th Olympic gold medal.
Ryan Held contributed the third leg, and a strong close by anchor Nathan Adrian secured victory.
France clocked 3:10.53 for the silver medal and Australia rounded out the podium with the bronze medals with a time of 3:11.37.
There was more traditional sports drama too when the favorites to win the Tennis gold in doubles – American sisters Serena and Venus Williams – were upset by the Czech team.
Anyone watching Sunday’s night telecast of the Olympics likely had the same question ahead of the US men’s 4×100 freestyle relay: What were those dark red circles covering Michael Phelps’ body?
Phelps’ rehabilitation over the past year and a half has been so inspirational USA teammates voted him as their flag bearer during the opening ceremony on Friday night. The sophomore at North Carolina State didn’t make the US team in an individual event, so getting the chance to swim the relay final with veterans Adrian and Phelps was huge.
“It was insane”, Phelps said of the atmosphere inside the arena. Becoming a father himself for the first time.
The second-seeded British pair lost to Brazilians Thomaz Bellucci and Andre Sa 7-6 (6), 7-6 (14) in front of a loud partisan crowd Sunday night, hours after Andy won his opening singles match as the defending champion in that event. Yannick Agnel swam the anchor leg for France, erasing a.55-second deficit.
Emotions spilled over during the victory ceremony when Ryan Held and Dressel started crying.
Now that his flag-carrying duties are out of the way, Michael Phelps is eager to get started on his fifth Olympics. I don’t know how they allowed us to play like this. “To see the 56 up there feels really good”.
It was a night of world records at the Rio pool.
Britain’s Adam Peaty took more than 1.5sec off the men’s 100m breaststroke world record after Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom also broke the record in the women’s race.
The win makes Kosovo the 100th country to win an Olympic gold medal. They will be there in four years.
The Americans are eager for gold after getting shut out on the first night of swimming, settling for three silvers.
When Vollmer touched the wall she said, “Please let it be a medal”. She crushed the mark of 3:58.37 that she set almost two years ago on the Gold Coast of Australia, and had been chasing ever since.
“That’s something I’ve had the privilege to be a part of since 2004, and I’m hoping to have the opportunity again”, Phelps said. Brown retired with an injury after trailing 4-5 in the second set having won the first. Murphy was one-hundredth of a second ahead of teammate David Plummer in separate semifinal heats.
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Cal’s Kathleen Baker led all qualifiers in the women’s 100 backstroke with an impressive time of 58.84 seconds.
