The athlete’s baby boy, Boomer Phelps, wore an adorable shirt to cheer on his famous dad during the Rio Olympics on Wednesday, August 10.
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That left New Zealand’s 2015 world championships silver medalist Lauren Boyle out in the cold after she finished ninth.
Less than a year later, pictures surfaced on the internet of him smoking out of a bong and he was suspended three months from U.S. Swimming. The performance in Rio is proving to be exceptional.
“It’s such a great honour to be a part of a U.S. relay team”, said Ledecky, still only 19 but the outstanding female swimmer on the United States team. Together, the two swam in the preliminary 4×200-meter freestyle relay, qualifying the team for finals, where the men won gold. “This place is going to be loud tomorrow – I’m looking forward to it”.
And he was right.
If Phelps wins, it will be his record fourth consecutive gold medal in the event. And since his pronouncement, American swimmers have upped the total to 21. Phelps has lived it, and within American sports has pedaled his way to eternal status as one of the great athletes in world history.
With the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio in full swing, I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Throwback Thursday this week than by watching the above video of 11-year-old Michael Phelps absolutely smoking the competition. “I mean c’mon, Ledecky? He’s he toughest competitor and racer I have had to go up against”. He did that in the 200 free last night. “It just goes on and on and on”.
Certainly Phelps and Ledecky are leading the way. While childhood pics generally always bring in the likes because, well, everyone looks cuter as a 9-year-old, this one is especially unbelievable.
His relay teammate Haas sure was thrilled. “I just knew that these three girls were going to put me in a good position to finish it out and I knew I could do it”, she added. “It was just awesome to watch that”.
“I’m not the kind of guy that accepts defeat”. But maybe he needed Rio to show us he is more than that.
Then, he’ll close out these Olympics in the 4×100 medley relay.
“We’ve got the rainbow now”, she added.
It’s mostly been good for the US through the years. Now Phelps has the chance to win even more medals in Rio.
Swimming in lane 4 with Lochte shadowing him in lane 5, Phelps trailed Brazil’s Thiago Pereira through 50 meters of butterfly.
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The record USA medal haul was 33 at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Since 1988, Greece has been the only host country not to win a swimming medal – in 2004.
