One night after his only setback of the games, an upset loss to Joseph Schooling in the 100 fly, Phelps was back on top.
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But Japan was too far behind to make a serious push for the podium, missing out on a medal four years after taking silver at the London Olympics.
Phelps began the butterfly leg with the USA in second position, but he set a blistering pace to give his team the lead by the end of his 100m.
The headlined drama in Phelps’ personal life sometimes offered new narratives between Games. He entered six weeks of inpatient therapy, where he got in touch with some of the issues that seemed to lead him astray outside the pool.
He quit drinking, reconnected with his estranged father, got engaged, moved to Arizona along with Bowman and became a father for the first time. And it wasn’t until after the fact that Phelps lifted the curtain to reveal the anger and unhappiness of those Games, when he wanted nothing more than to be done with swimming. “I’m not swimming Masters, either, no offense to Masters”.
“A lot of this is because of Michael”, Schooling said. That changed at the rehab center, he said, where he was surrounded by people who respected him as a person rather than a medalist. It’s also about how they support each other in tough workouts or after races – from the intuitive teammates who know who needs a hug and who needs space, to the effervescent ones that pump everyone up.
Then he and his teammates grabbed a sign that said, “Thank You Rio”. As CNN notes, he got a slow start on his own career, getting disqualified right before his heat in the 2012 Olympics, because his cap and googles were not regulation.
“It’s not even once in a generation”.
Ryan Murphy put the Americans ahead on the backstroke leg, but a blistering swim by Great Britain’s Adam Peaty meant that Phelps jumped into the pool for the last time in second position.
Then he dived in and did what Michael Phelps does, helping the United States to gold in the 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle relays, avenging his 2012 200m fly loss to le Clos and notching his fourth straight 200m individual medley title.
James Guy turned first for Team GB at the halfway mark of the butterfly, but Phelps had a long look at the Briton as they came up from the turn and put down the pedal as he powered through to fittingly touch for the final time in front.
The race wasn’t in doubt after that.
Trailing in her wake was Jazz Carlin of Great Britain, who finished over 11 seconds back to take silver, while Hungary’s Boglarka Kapas claimed bronze.
But Vollmer’s butterfly averted a crisis and Manuel brought them home in 3:53.13 nearly two seconds ahead of Australia with Denmark taking bronze.
Phelps won his 23rd gold medal for his part in the Americans’ victory in the 4×100 medley relay, his 28th medal overall in 30 Olympic events.
“I’m just ready for something different”, the 31-year-old who made his debut at the 2000 Games in Sydney at age 15, said after the event, according to CBS Sports. “It’s been an honor”.
The win also set a new Olympic record in an event that the United States has never lost in the history of the Games, according to CBS Sports.
When Stanford swimmer Simone Manuel touched the wall to clinch a gold medal Saturday night, it was a moment 120 years in the making.
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Schooling: Michael and the USA team came to Singapore for a training camp before Beijing and came to the country club where I trained at.
