He swam the third leg for the USA men’s 4×100 freestyle relay Sunday (Michael Phelps swam the second leg).
Advertisement
Cheered on by fiancee Nicole and toddler Boomer in the stands, the peerless Phelps again provided the spark, producing a blistering 47.12-second leg to overtake France’s Fabien Gilot and set up victory in the 4x100m free. He won’t be the only American in the event, as countryman Tom Shields will also participate.
The games are expected to be the final Olympics for Phelps, who admitted before they began that he was excited to have Boomer be there for his grand finale.
“We wanted that race back so badly”, added Phelps, who hugged team mate Ryan Held on the podium as he sobbed tears of joy.
“They were making us cry. But I’m very pleased with the start”.
“It felt good to get my last 400 free relay of my career with this thing around my neck”, he said.
Events: Heats for the men’s 200-meter butterfly (12 p.m.). His Wikipedia page will forevermore be a picture of him crying because that’s exactly what he did right after he and his teammates won gold.
“I saw those (British) flags and each one represented what I’m actually here for – to represent one of the best countries on earth”, said Peaty. “Each day, day in day out, I just gave it absolutely everything”.
Katie Ledecky will compete in the 200-meter freestyle today.
It was a night of world records at the Olympic Aquatics Center.
“I’ve been a little off on my predictions to make it into semis and finals”, he said. Instead of turning pro immediately, she swam in college for two years before jumping to the pro ranks last year.
Then he went to bed at around 3 a.m. and climbed back on an 11 a.m. bus headed to the pool for Monday’s preliminaries.
Advertisement
For Phelps, it was the fastest relay time he’s ever produced at the Olympics.
