Having featured in his last competitive event, Phelps said he got emotional at times during the Games in Rio.
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When Sports Illustrated wanted a photo shoot of the best performing U.S. athletes, Phelps, Ledecky and gymnast Simone Biles were their obvious choices. She’s the next – scratch that – current big thing in gymnastics.
At the world youth championships in 2001, he was entered for the 200m but failed to make the finals.
In a year when Steph Curry hit 402 3-pointers and the Warriors won 73 regular season games, only to be outshined by Lebron James in the NBA Finals, some of these Olympic athletes have made Curry and Lebron appear as mere mortals.
Day 12 of the Rio Games features medal action in track and field, beach volleyball, wrestling and more. The U.S. was guaranteed two medals in the gold medal match, as the winning team defeated Venus Williams and Rajeev Ram, who settled for silver. She is Australia’s most decorated cyclist with a total of six medals, and a true champion of the sport. For context, he’d rank 38th all time on the countries’ medal list…winter and summer Olympics combined.
LAURA TROTT/JASON KENNY: If ever there were a powerhouse couple in elite sport, cyclists Laura Trott and Jason Kenny of Great Britain certainly fit the bill.
Marta and Brazil are a win away from the gold-medal match, but the team will first have to overcome a pumped up Sweden team that knocked off the three-time defending champion United States in the quarterfinals.
With just five days’ worth of events in Rio to go, China have 17 gold medals to their name.
After almost missing the 4×100 relay final because of a bad exchange in the preliminary heat, the USA women rebounded in dominating fashion, running away with the gold in the relay on the penultimate day of track and field competitions. The Bryan Brothers, who have dominated men’s doubles tennis for so long, did not bother coming to Rio, the 38-year-old identical twins instead choosing to withdraw over health concerns. Bolt, like Phelps, fits in to that category of “Greatest Of All Time” – and he is showing no signs of disappointing.
“It’s going to be a stretch and we’ve said that all along that top five and 15-16 gold medals ain’t going to be easy”.
Liu added: “It’s our dream for our homeland to win an Olympic Games gold medal, our dream”. She’s the first British boxer to achieve the feat since Scotsman Dick McTaggart claimed gold and bronze in 1956 and 1960 respectively.
But Japan, who celebrated their first ever medal in the men’s team event, did not settle for silver without a fight.
For the Olympic organizers, the day also brought bad news.
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Great Britain have surpassed the tally of 47 medals won in Beijing in 2008..
