After winning his final race in Rio, Saturday night’s men’s 4×100 meter medley relay, Phelps said these games mark the end of one life and the beginning of something new.
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Frankly, it was the way America needed him to do it. Phelps swam the relay’s third leg. Since then, Phelps has amassed 28 Olympic (23 gold) and 33 World Championship medals (26 gold). It’s been a remarkable ride, and Phelps is pretty insistent that his Olympic run from 2000 to this year is now ending.
Michael Phelps has nothing left to do at the pool. It’s been some kind of journey for the Maryland native, and it’s been nearly as fun for all of us to get to watch him. A 3:17:59 second Olympics record, Phelps team won this gold. China is second in both with 13 gold and 41 total, with Great Britain third in both at 10 and 30. I didn’t want to have a ‘what if?’ 20 years later but being able to close the door on this sport how I want to, that’s why I’m happy now. However, I will not take part as a competitor. “That’s the difference. Because I knew this was the last time”. He earned bronze in the 100 fly at last year’s world championships in Russian Federation, and he owns a slew of medals from the Asian, Commonwealth and Southeast Asian Games.
Manuel set an Olympic and American record to tie for the gold medal in the 100-meter freestyle. I wanted to challenge myself, see how much more I could actually do.
Phelps also talked about some familiar goals: working with his foundation to teach more children to swim and continuing his efforts to make the sport more popular – not just in the United States but around the world.
Though he managed to win six medals in London, four of them gold, he had not trained to his standards, had not been as engaged in the pursuit as he was in 2004 and 2008, when he became an Olympic legend.
“I was like, ‘Dude, this is insane, ‘” Schooling told Phelps. Next thing you know, they’re going off to college.
GOODBYE GREEN: Olympic officials gave up on cleaning the green-tinged water in one of the pools at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Center.
Thompson, 24, got off to a flying start and quickly surged to the front to cross in 10.71sec, punching the air before embracing training partner Fraser-Pryce.
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“It’s really special and the fact that I can do it with a relay is awesome”, she said after the USA women beat Australia and Denmark.
