The finale wasn’t without some Phelps magic, however, as he was sixth at the 50-metre mark then turned on the jets for a furious rally, though not enough to catch gold-medal victor Joseph Schooling of Singapore.
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Astonishingly, all three touched out in 51.14 seconds, behind Schooling’s Olympic record 50.39.
“Leaving everything in the pool one last time is what I am going to do and if that is good enough to win we’ll see”, the 31-year-old shrugged, as he looked ahead to the latest session of what has been an incredibly draining week.
A glorious career had threatened to end in public humiliation when Phelps was arrested for drunk driving two years ago, but the American has banished his demons in dramatic fashion to leave a Games legacy it is hard to imagine ever being eclipsed. “And I just want to be inspiration to others that you can do it”.
“Phelps” mother Debbie was more certain they’d work out. I came back the heaviest I had ever been. (But) this is final. Going into the first race you don’t really know how it’s going to be.
“And I’m standing by that”, he insisted. “Everything I’ve put my mind to, I’ve been able to accomplish”. I think he will be back for Rio.
But Manuel, 20, stunned a world-class field to tie for the gold medal in the 100-meter freestyle with Canada’s Penny Oleksiak to become the first African-American woman to win an individual Olympic title in swimming.
After 2,160 years of history, give or take a decade, the greatest athlete of ancient Greece is no longer alone on his pedestal.
Le Clos, who lost his 200m butterfly title to Phelps on Tuesday, failed in his bid to turn the tables but was happy not to have been beaten by him again either.
“I’ve been able to kind of finish how I wanted to”, Phelps said.
“The 100-meter backstroke is actually the one that comes more naturally for me so that’s the one I was really gunning for”.
“It’s pretty insane what happens in eight years”.
Phelps, who now has 27 medals, had been hoping to win the event for the fourth successive Games.
“I’ve gotten some photos of him – Boomer will be dressed to impress in the stands, that’s for sure”.
“Right now I don’t know how to wrap my head around that”.
“Walking alongside him and celebrating”.
The Singapore Sports Institute asked that Schooling be allowed to defer his service for three years in order to prepare for the Rio Olympics and the ministry agreed.
Le Clos finished second to Phelps in the 200m butterfly this time and felt he had let down his parents Bert and Geraldine, who have been diagnosed with cancer.
“(But) I’ll be back from that. “You’ve got to check him out”, Michael told reporters before his August 9th races.
Ervin won his first gold at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, tying teammate Gary Hall Jr. for the top spot.
“That’s a lot of medals”, grinned the American.
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Fred isn’t at this year’s Olympics, though his relationship with his son has improved since Michael’s time in rehab following his second DUI arrest in 2014.
