With a total of five gold medals, one silver, and a remarkable comeback after having hard times, the Baltimore-born defeated his own professional climax achieved in Beijing 2008, when he won eight golds and broke Mark Spitz’s record. His 200-meter individual medley performance won him his 13th individual gold medal, beating a record set by ancient Olympian Leonidas of Rhodes, who had won the most Olympic individual medals of all time, taking twelve.
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After all, Phelps said he was retiring after the 2012 Olympics. But this time, the crew that supported Phelps looked a little bit different; aside from his mother, the Baltimore native was joined by his fiancee Nicole and their infant son Boomer. “And this time, I mean it”, Phelps said when prodded about a possible return in 2020 when Tokyo hosts the Summer Games.
On Monday morning, Phelps appeared on the “Today” show in Rio, where he said he was “done” and that 2016 would be his final Olympics.
Murphy, making his Olympic debut in the Rio Games, swept the 100m and 200m backstroke gold medals.
“When I chose to come back I wanted to do it the right way”, he said. “[It’s] something I’m excited about and proud of”.
It hasn’t always been this way for Phelps on his journey to the highest summit of global sport.
“As soon as I walked into the warm-down pool that final night, the tears started coming and filling up in my eyes, and [coach] Bob [Bowman] and I shared some of those emotional moments with one another”.
“I walked to the pool tonight and I nearly felt myself starting to cry”, said an uncharacteristically emotional Phelps. I wanted to change the sport of swimming.
“I think he’s going to come back again, just because when you get to this stage, we thrive off that excitement of getting on those blocks and racing the seven best other racers in the world”, Lochte said.
“It’s exciting to see that there are kids out there who want to represent our country, who want to swim at this level, and who want to do well”, he said. “And this was the cherry on top of the cake that I wanted”. “Just go out there and kill it.’ That was enough for me to get hyped”. “I wanted to hold my son”. Phelps wants all his teammates to know he is only ever a phone call away.
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At a Press Conference last Saturday Phelps shares something about his private life talking about his baby boy and wedding plans.
