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.
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Phelps who ended up as the most decorated Olympian ever winning 23 gold medals will try to popularise swimming in US in his new avatar.
In the previous race, Simone Manuel anchored the United States women’s 4×100 metres medley team to the 1,000th gold medal in her country’s Olympic history.
“I will be watching, cheering everybody on, but I will not be in the pool competing”, he said of future competitions.
“Last warmup, last time putting on a suit, last time walking out in front of thousands of people representing my country it’s insane”.
What an incredible race to watch, but Phelps announced after that it would be his last.
Phelps had retired once before, though, after the 2012 London Games.
Since he first took the Olympic plunge at the 2000 Sydney Games, Phelps has had an ambition to take swimming into the mainstream.
As Nathan Adrian touched the wall to finish off the victory, Phelps gathered the other relay swimmers, Ryan Murphy and Cody Miller, in his arms.
That gave the USA gold medals in five of six relay events, and 16 overall swimming golds. “I am not coming back in four years”.
So what is next for Phelps?
Phelps is eager to spend a lot more time with them. “That’s what I wanted to do”, said Phelps about his participation in Tokyo 2020. There was gold earned in rowing as the US women’s eight won its third straight Olympic competition, finishing ahead of Britain and Romania.
Phelps said he did not have numerous details on the incident yet, but added they he was back in his room at the Olympic Village, with his fiancée, Nicole Johnson, and their son, Boomer, at the time. So do others. Biles has won two gold and a chance for more golds in Rio – and she hasn’t lost a world or national all-around in three years. She already became the first African-American woman to win an Olympic swimming title with her win in the 100 free.
The 2016 Summer Olympics are underway with the finest athletes from around the world trying to claim the gold in Rio. Great Britain won silver and Australia the bronze.
But the sport’s governing body banned her from the Olympics last week after receiving what it said was new information. David Plummer, Ryan Lochte, Phelps, Jimmy Feigen, Chase Kalisz and Conor Dwyer combined for seven golds, two silvers, and two bronzes. His name is firmly part of the conversation from what he has contributed to his sport, and that should be good enough for him. I don’t think so boys and girls; this is over.
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And, owning a record 23 Olympic gold medals after his final race at Rio 2016 ended with victory in Saturday’s 4×100-meter medley relay, he has.
