Longhorn athletes continued to be a fixture on the podium in the 2016 Olympics with junior swimmer Joseph Schooling taking gold for Singapore in the 100-meter butterfly.
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Phelps had gold medal finishes in his first four races, but came up a little short in the men’s 100m butterfly on Friday.
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong also congratulated Schooling in the first time on Facebook.
Phelps may have tied Leonidas’ record on Tuesday, but even then he had more gold medals. “So, Michael, I’ll see you in Tokyo”.
“I’m just probably more vocal and more outgoing now than I have been in the past”, Phelps said after the heats of the 100m breaststroke, in which he qualified fourth fastest for the semi-finals.
A three-way tie for second saw South Africa’s Chad le Clos and Hungarian Laszlo Cseh share silver with the “Baltimore Bullet”, but the night was all about one man.
Schooling, who took bronze at last year’s world championships, punched the water and roared with delight as Phelps swam over to pat him on the back before le Clos ruffled the youngster’s hair.
On top of that, his own coach believes that Phelps’ state of mind is such that a return in four years just doesn’t make sense. No more. I swore in London I wasn’t coming back and this is final.
But Phelps said he does not intend to compete in another Olympics once the Rio Games get over.
Phelps has a chance to win his 23rd gold in his final race of the Olympics, the 4×100-metre medley relay.
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But gold medals are not Phelps’ only priority as he leads one of America’s youngest ever Olympic swimming teams in Rio. I don’t think it has set in yet. The second most-decorated USA men’s swimmer in history, Lochte said he needs a break from the sport. While a silver is not the way he would have wanted his individual career to end, he does have another relay to try for gold in on Saturday.
