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. Another cool number: since the start of Phelps career, the number of year-round swimmers in US swimming clubs has increased by 52.4 percent, according to TIME, up to a current total of337,000.
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Most of the US swim team was in the stands to watch Phelps’ finale, including the biggest female star of the games, Katie Ledecky, decked out in a matching United States of America white jacket and cap. “I’m super ecstatic with that, and just being on the relay with these awesome women and fighting for Team USA and getting a gold medal, that’s the icing on top of the cake”.
“I wanted to come back and finish my career how I wanted and this was the cherry on top of the cake”, he stated. “That’s the difference. Because I knew this was the last time”.
He said he started to tear up even before he put his googles on on Saturday night.
“Between now and London, I was so much more emotional during these Games, I think that showed at times on camera”, he said. “I don’t want to miss anything”. He insisted it would be his last Olympic race, although he also said the same after concluding the 2012 Games in London only to emerge from retirement years later. Back when races were only timed to one-tenth of a second, not one-hundredth as they are in the pool, United States speedskaters shared silver at the 1968 Winter Olympics. The latter posed for a photo with Schooling eight years ago. Several of Phelps’ younger teammates talked of getting his autograph or having posters of him on their wall when they were children.
Phelps is not giving up the pool, however.
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“Getting off the bus walking into the pool tonight, I nearly felt myself starting to cry”, Phelps said. “It’s great exercise. It’s something I know how to do”. It will be easy to pop in and swim two miles a couple of times a week. “I’m going to try to get on that earlier than later this time”.
