Michael Phelps will make his individual event debut on Monday, but his 18 gold medals may be overshadowed by an Olympic first.
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A stellar year thus far for the women’s usa soccer team has continued in Rio.
For Australians had to settle with a bronze medal after a slow start saw them sit last after the opening leg, and while the final three were able to claw their way back into contention, the Americans were never going to be caught.
Phelps used the full 15 meters allowed underwater, and by the time he completed a split of 47.12 seconds, the field had been crushed.
While Biles will be the heavy favorite and star attraction at the all-around final, one of the biggest stories heading into the final is surrounding 2012’s gold medal victor, Gabby Douglas.
“As fast as my teammates were, the extraterrestrial that is Phelps was faster”, said Fabien Gilot, who had the unfortunate task of swimming the second leg for the now-silver medalists.
“The good thing is that we have a long time between prelims and finals”, he said.
Caeleb Dressel, Michael Phelps, Nathan Adrian and Held teamed to claim the gold in 3 minutes, 9.92 seconds for the first time since the 2008 Beijing Games.
Defiantly, Efimova waved her finger after she won the race, signalling that she was “number one”.
Coming out of retirement in 2014 after a stint in rehab following his second drunk driving arrest, Phelps said the quick turnarounds between the late-night races tailor-made for US television and the early afternoon heats the next day are tough.
“Having the amount of excitement cheering in the stands during that race I don’t know if I have heard anything like it”.
“I know how hard it is to swim in the wake in that race and I was going to do whatever I could to get them out front”.
On the medal dais, as Held and Dressel lost control of their emotions, Phelps tried to play the role of the elder statesman. “You got this, I am out”.
Rio is likely to be Phelps’ last OIympic appearance but he has backed the other three members of the relay team to go on and dominate future editions of the Games.
Immediately after the win, the Americans made a point of celebrating as close as possible to the crestfallen Russians, who were standing directly next to them.
“That’s been the secret that I have had through this year that keeps me healthy”, gymnast Alex Naddour told The New York Post. “The younger guys started crying, I started crying”.
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“We wanted to bring that relay back to American soil”, he said. The Canadian team won 18 medals – including one gold – four years ago in London. The 28-year-old has won medals in three separate Olympics. The most decorated Olympian of all time has now won gold at four separate Games, the first swimmer to do so.
