Share

U.S. wins men’s medley relay, golden send-off for Phelps

Joseph Schooling (SIN) of Singapore is congratulated by Michael Phelps (USA) of USA as they leave the podium.

Advertisement

Phelps has 28 medals overall, having won five golds and a silver at these Games.

Phelps edged alongside James Guy on the butterfly leg and handed over to freestyler Nathan Adrian with a lead to take into the last 100, which he soon extended.

A shock defeat by Singapore’s Joseph Schooling in the 100m butterfly on Friday ended a ideal Rio run for the 31-year-old.

After the race, Phelps raised his alarms aloft to acknowledge the cheers from the crowd, while fiancee Nicole wiped tears from her eyes as she cradled their baby, Boomer, in the crowd. He plans to marry Johnson after the Olympics and said he’s eager to watch his son grow, maybe even dole out a swimming lesson or two.

Michael Phelps of the United States celebrates after the men’s 200m individual medley final at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on August 11, 2016. Phelps powered the United States team to a 3:27.95 finish, 1.29 seconds ahead of Britain.

As they walked around the pool deck after their medal ceremony, Schooling asked Phelps if he had four more years in him. He retired after the London Games in 2012 but chose to compete one more time in Rio.

Elsewhere, Ethiopian distance runner Almaz Ayana smashed a 23-year-old world record to claim gold in the 10,000m before New Zealand shot putter Valerie Adams suffered an agonising defeat as the Olympic athletics competition opened with a bang on Friday.

Phelps and his teammates took the deck to a thunderous ovation and Ryan Murphy got the Americans off to a blazing start, clocking a world record 51.85sec on the opening backstroke leg.

He wouldn’t be for long.

It wasn’t in doubt after that.

Schooling set the new Olympic record by finishing with a time of 50.39 seconds. It marks the first time Phelps failed to win gold in the event and also marks the first-ever gold medal for Singapore.

Kathleen Baker, Lilly King and Dana Vollmer joined Manuel in the historic victory, which came with a time of 3:53.13. Their winning time was 3 minutes, 53.13 seconds.

And the gold medal isn’t the only thing Schooling will take away from these Olympics. Puig is ranked 34th and is the first unseeded women’s singles gold medalist since tennis returned to the Olympics in 1988.

The top threats to the US will likely come from Great Britain, which posted the fastest time in qualifying heats – and is hungry for a medal after finishing fourth in this event at London’s 2012 Olympics.

Japan’s Kosuke Hagino got the silver medal after he came up short by almost a body-length from Phelps.

Thompson was never challenged in the race, winning by one-tenth of a second as her lead widened before she crossed the finish lane.

Australia’s team comprised Emily Seebohm, Taylor McKeown, Emma McKeon and Cate Campbell while Mie Nielsen, Rikke Moller Pedersen, Jeanette Ottesen and Pernille Bloom represented Denmark. The women’s team pursuit squad of Katie Archibald, Laura Trott, Elinor Barker and Joanna Rowsell-Shand beat the world champion United States in the finals, giving their powerful track cycling team its third gold medal in Rio.

Detti rallied over the final laps to pass American Jordan Wilimovksy, who settled for fourth.

Advertisement

“With the people we have in the sport now, I think you are seeing it”, Phelps said.

2016 Rio Olympics Results