Milking the acclaim of the crowd, Phelps climbed, Wimbledon tennis-style, past a bank of poolside photographers to kiss little Boomer and fiancée Nicole Johnson after an emotional medals ceremony. The likes of Austria, Argentina, and Ethiopia have all won fewer Gold medals than Phelps on his own.
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But Phelps said that was also the last time he would race it. “That’s the closest I’ve ever come to throwing up after a race”. “I can not wait to see what he will do the rest of the week”.
His first event was the Men’s 100m freestyle relay where he won the first gold medal of the Summer Games. It’s the only one he has swam in all five of his Olympics, starting in 2000 in Sydney, when, as a 15-year-old, he finished fifth. “I told Bob [Bowman] when I came back how bad I wanted that 200 fly, and I came into the pool tonight on a mission”.
The world waited to see the most decorated Olympian Michael Phelps and the rest of the USA Olympic team arrive in Rio de Janeiro.
“That event was kind of like my bread and butter”, Phelps said.
“It’s kind of been a insane last couple days”.
History will show that Phelps 20th Medal was not won in a particularly fast time, certainly not when one considers the times in London 4 years ago, but there has hardly been a more openly fought and anticipated show down. It was a frustrating race for me. “There wasn’t a chance in hell I would lose that tonight and if I did every ounce of energy would have been left in the pool”. “His first one will always be my favourite, and by that I mean his first 200 fly medal not his first race, but that one was definitely number two”.
NBCUniversal’s networks and digital platforms will be showing almost 7,000 hours of programing over 19 days during the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics.
At 11:03 p.m. the men will go in the 100 meter freestyle.
Both Le Clos’ parents – mum Geraldine and father Bert, whose exuberant celebrations captured the public’s imagination four years ago – have cancer. But there was no emotional victory this time round.
Cseh began to fade, with Le Clos moving into second at the 150 metre-mark but the South African could not match Phelps in the final lap, with the American punching the air in delight after stepping out. “It’s good to see he’s awake”.
“It was a stressful race and I feel good now it’s over”. Phelps redeemed himself, beating silver medalist Masato Sakai with a time of 1.56.36.
“The last 10 meters were not fun”, Phelps said. “My gosh, I thought I was standing still”.
That victory appeared relatively smooth, with Phelps taking over on the final leg with a huge lead.
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Afterward, Phelps kindly offered tips to le Clos, who was then 20, and the two even discussed getting together to go shark diving in le Clos’ native South Africa. We have different sponsors so he had to reverse it but he didn’t affect him.
