The nerves were there.
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In the women’s competitions, two more world records were smashed- by Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom in the women’s 100m butterfly and prolific American Katie Ledecky, who obliterated her own 400m freestyle mark by nearly two seconds.
Then the lights came on.
In fact, Held had never even been on an worldwide team until this meet. On vault and floor too.
At that point, it wasn’t really in doubt. Rio is Phelps’ fifth Olympic appearance. The Williams sisters are considered one of the best women’s doubles teams in the world.
“I told them beforehand it is OK to sing, and it is OK to cry”, Phelps said of the advice he gave his fellow teammates.
Brazilian number one Thomaz Bellucci lashed out at the decision to let his game against close friend Dustin Brown go ahead.
The 2015 Worlds in Kazan, Russia, and the low point: the US guys didn’t even qualify for the final, placing 11th in the heats.
Three-time world champion Simone Biles led the way.
Her teammate Annemiek van Vleuten crashed while leading the race on the same final decent where Giro d’ Italia victor Vincenzo Nibali and Colombian climber Sergio Henao tumbled while leading the men’s race Saturday. So much for the butterflies in her stomach.
“It was great to see the young guys get emotional”, Phelps said. “I just wanted to hammer it”, he said.
Consider it a luxury of being so far beyond the rest of the planet.
Phelps is the most decorated Olympian in history, having won a total of 23 medals.
But even so, this 19th gold medal felt different.
It took the USA team, made up of Caeleb Dressel, Michael Phelps, Ryan Held and Nathan Adrian, three minutes, 9.92 seconds to win the 4x100m freestyle relay title at the Rio Olympics.
Michael Phelps won a record 19th Olympic gold medal as the US on Sunday clinched the men’s 4×100 metres freestyle relay title of the Rio Games. While Michael Phelps and Nathan Adrain are used to the gold medley moment, newcomers Ryan Held and Caeleb Dressel’s first gold moment was full of emotion. Nathan Adrian, the defending Olympic champion in the 100-meter freestyle, was the anchor.
His girlfriend Nicole Johnson and son Boomer cheered him on as he achieved the record feat.
The Americans were eager for gold after getting shut out on the first night of swimming, settling for three silvers.
Favorites won the three other finals by wide margins, all by breaking their own world records.
The result was totally expected. The U.S. team – Phelps, Weber-Gale, Cullen Jones, Lezak – set the still-standing world record, 3:08.24.
Her arms churning effortlessly through the water, Ledecky touched almost 5 seconds ahead of her closest pursuer and quickly whipped around to look at the scoreboard.
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In the 400m freestyle, American Katie Ledecky broke the word record with 3:56.46. She crushed the mark of 3:58.37 that she set almost two years ago on the Gold Coast of Australia, and had been chasing ever since. “It’s nothing. I know what to do”. “It shows they really do care and they love what they’re doing”, said Phelps, who earned his record 19th Olympic gold medal. “We had a blast out there”, said 34-year-old Serena after the 6-3, 6-4 defeat.
