In winning his 23rd gold medal Saturday night, Michael Phelps put an exclamation point on his historic Olympic swim career.
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It’s a terrific photo, one of the more powerful imagines from the first week of the Olympics.
One of the greatest Olympians of all time, United States swimmer Michael Phelps, drew a large TV crowd for his final race.
Phelps was just 15 when John Lohn, U.S. correspondent for the highly-regarded website Swim Vortex, first saw him compete – and he has followed his career in the intervening 16 years. “So I think that’s why I will still incorporate swimming in part of my weekly routine, just because it’s calming and soothing for me”, he said. “I was able to come back and able to do things that I wanted to accomplish”.
Phelps dove into the pool in second place.
And with Saturday’s victories, Team U.S.A. has had another record setting summer in the pool as well, taking a total of 33 medals (beating the 2000 and 2012 records of 31), and tying the record for team gold medals, at16.
Phelps said plans now include dedicating himself to family and travel.
“Between now and London, I was so much more emotional during these Games; I think that showed at times on camera”, he continued.
“It’s incredible. Really. I have been dreaming of this moment since I was a child and it’s fantastic”, said the 21-year-old Paltinieri.
The legacy of Phelps is far from over and could even grow from here, as if one thing is for certain it’s that he will continue to be involved in the Olympic setup in some capacity for years to come.
“You’re going to get the same response here [as in 2012] – done, done, done”.
Ledecky, who will be a freshman at Stanford in the fall, now has five gold medals in her two Olympic appearances and currently holds world records in three different races.
Murphy set the pace for the Americans in the first leg of the relay, recording a new backstroke world record of 51.85 seconds as Britain’s Chris Walker-Hebbon finished his stint in sixth.
“I can get in the water and be really, really upset and I can get out of the water and I can be a happy, outgoing person again”.
“According to four members of the U.S. Olympic Swimming Team (Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger, Jimmy Feigen and Ryan Lochte), they left France House early Sunday morning in a taxi headed for the Olympic Village”, Sandusky said in a statement released Sunday afternoon.
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Phelps couldn’t have asked for a more storybook ending.
