“Things started hitting me this morning”, he said. “It’s for a whole bunch of people that came before me and have been an inspiration to me. I guess it just wasn’t that good”.
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Manuel, 20, was runner-up at the US trials to Cal-bound Abbey Weitzel and gave no indication she had a breakout performance in her. Coach Dave Marsh didn’t even include the Cardinal junior in the final of the 400 relay last weekend, relegating her to the morning preliminaries.
Phelps is the second American swimmer to appear in five Olympic Games, matching Dara Torres. He has not made a decision on trying to compete in Tokyo in 2020.
“Coming into this race I tried to take the weight of the black community off my shoulders”, she said. “I hope it does go away”.
Thursday’s victory was Phelps’ 22nd Olympic gold medal as he continues to extend his record as the most successful Olympian of all time. “And that’s not true”.
This was touted as the last showdown between two of America’s greatest swimmers, though there’s never been any question about which one had the upper hand. She recalled struggling to process the significance in an interview last month at Stanford.
“I think it means a lot with some of the issues going on in the world, like police brutality”, she said.
Cal’s Ryan Murphy looked stoic after winning his second gold medal with a victory in the 200-meter backstroke. Murphy finished in 1:53.62, a third of a second ahead of Australia’s Mitchell Larkin.
If you’re Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte, the answer is by carbo-loading in matching personal whirlpools.
Simone Manuel of the United States and Penny Oleksiak of Canada tied for the gold medal in the women’s 100-meter freestyle at the Rio Olympics.
Phelps wiggled four fingers after the race to accentuate the latest barrier he broke.
As usual, Phelps pulled off the grueling double, advancing to Friday night’s final with the fifth-fastest time.
He was lauded by the Rio crowd with one banner proclaiming “Phelps Greatest Olympian Ever” and Phelps swayed slightly and breathed deeply as he listened to the USA anthem at the victory ceremony with his eyes moist.
Phelps, 31, is now four-for-four in his fifth Olympics. It wasn’t just the fact of the gold medal; it was how he won it, separating himself from the field with what historically had been one of his weakest strokes, the breast. A photo circulated of Phelps with a bong, followed by a string of broken relationships.
“I’ve been able to kind of finish how I wanted to”, Phelps said.
A few months later it all unraveled with the DUI.
What’s the best way to celebrate 12 years of friendly competition? “The rehab is what opened him up”. He got to live the college life he missed out on the first time around.
Unless of course Chad le Clos can deny him.
“If he can hang on for another year I would appreciate it so much”, he said.
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Cal sprinters Nathan Adrian and Anthony Ervin advanced to the final of the 50 freestyle with blistering semifinal performances. Franklin failed to even make it to the final of her two individual events.
