Phelps bowed out with his fifth gold of the Rio Games in his fifth and final Olympics after powering the United States to victory in the men’s 4x100m medley relay.
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He carried the Olympic flag at the opening ceremonies for the 2016 games and swam his way to six medals – five gold and one silver – in the days that followed.
In Rio, where he took his Olympic tally to a staggering 28 medals – he also won three silvers and two bronze – it was apparent he was not going through the motions at all.
Farah picked himself up after being clipped by training partner Galen Rupp and he produced a trademark surge on the last bend to win it in 27min 05.17sec. “I knew this was the last time, the last race I’d ever have, the last Olympics I’d ever have”. For each silver and bronze, it’s $5,940 and $3,960, respectively. “I’m super ecstatic with that, and just being on the relay with these wonderful women and fighting for Team USA and getting a gold medal, that’s the icing on top of the cake”.
“So I mean I have a lot of goals, but I think that I just want to take it day by day”, Phelps added. The little one has also grabbed much attention on Instagram, where he enjoys a personal account with almost 500,000 followers. “I started watching him when I was 6 years old when I was first starting to get in the sport and to be on the team with him has been such an honor”.
You guessed it-Phelps has won the most medals, making USA history, and just before his retirement.
The U.S. has won the 4×100 medley relay in every Olympics since 1960, except the 1980 Games which the Americans boycotted.
He wants to help empower the world’s swimmers when it comes to the sport’s decision-making and changing some rules to benefit them.
“He’s a father figure to me”, Phelps said of Bowman, his coach since age 11 who he followed to Arizona when Bowman was named ASU’s swim and dive coach past year. “It brought a tear to my eye, just because he hasn’t seen me in a while and it was so cool to see him smiling back at me and laughing and giggling”. “It’s insane. This is how I wanted to finish my career”. After his final swimming race at Rio 2016, Phelps won his 23rd gold medal and gave the United States a victory over Great Britain.
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“It’s incredible. Really. I have been dreaming of this moment since I was a child and it’s wonderful”, said the 21-year-old Paltinieri. And then she was like, ‘What about 100 fly?
