When swimming legend Michael Phelps woke up in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday (14 August), he did something unusual for a man who has won more Olympic medals (28) than anybody else: he took out the full haul of silverware he has won at Rio 2016, five golds and one silver, and looked at it all in the morning sun. Keeping count of the gold total is not as exact a science as one might think.
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Simone Manuel carried the USA to its 1000th gold. Then at the 2012 London Games, Felix finally broke through, winning her first Olympic 200-meter gold medal.
“They did it this time”, he said. In his world, his 20th gold medal was just another ordinary feat, a quasi footnote in an empyreal career, but his post-race reaction – Phelps’s face was deadpan, but his gesticulation, arms aloft, back and forth, nearly chest-pumping, wagging his fingers – revealed the intensity of his swimming, the relish in winning his signature race. After blaming algae, heat and even the number of swimmers for the green water at Maria Lenk Aquatics Center, officials said Saturday a contractor mistakenly dumped hydrogen peroxide into the pool, causing an adverse reaction with chlorine.
Lovely, 1000 times over now for the Americans. “He got gold 16 years ago, and then left the sport for some eight years”.
“It seemed like pretty much every race, we had somebody up on that podium”, Phelps said.
First off, Phelps has won more individual events than any Olympian in history. The Soviet Union remains No. 2 on the all-time summer gold list, and no other nation has even reached 500.
“I’m not going four more years and I’m standing by that”, he said. Outpacing Argentina, Austria, Mexico and North Korea alone, he is the most decorated Olympic athlete in history. Maybe even of all times. He competed in the same event in London.
His saga, however, doesn’t stop there.
And although teammates Lilly King, Kathleen Baker and Dana Vollmer had all won Olympic medals before, they celebrated excitedly among themselves as Manuel moved further clear of the field. “This is a new experience for me, and like I said, it’s something Nicole and I are very, very excited about”. So the gold remains awarded to Bradford Cooper of Australia. He was counting down the days of the Olympic Games until he could go home. It’s hard to imagine any athlete challenging his medal totals – 28 overall, 23 gold – so now it’s time for Phelps to find another pursuit.
Germany was second in the medals standings, with 13. “I did this this time because I truly wanted to”.
The Olympic website describes those St. Louis Games as being “lost in chaos”.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Aliya Mustafina defended her Olympic title in uneven bars on Sunday, edging American Madison Kocian for gold in a tight final. Things went awry when he landed wrong and snapped his leg. Aït Saïd, visibly distraught did take it like a real champion though, looking more disappointed than in pain.
This time around, Cabral is not ruling out the chance at a medal. Her three golds are the most by an American female gymnast during one Olympics. He has spoken of how he winged a few gold medals on sheer talent, though the physical talent ought to be a pictorial tome and scientific literary extravagance in itself. “I’m going to try to get on that earlier than later this time”.
The Olympic curtain came down on Michael Phelps Saturday, but not before he and his U.S. 4×100-meter medley relay colleagues could add another medal to his already record-breaking collection.
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“It’s the Olympics, ” said United States swimmer Katie Ledecky, a five-time victor of Olympic gold.
