Phelps grew up single-mindedly driven to carry swimming to an entirely different plane in the usa sports consciousness, like Michael Jordan did for basketball.
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The 31-year-old American won the 4×100 metres medley relay with Ryan Murphy, Cody Miller and Nathan Adrian, extending his record as the most decorated Olympian of all time with 28 medals in all. Swimming is richer because of him, and will be poorer without him.
To be frank, Phelps could take two and a half years off, put in 18 months of work (maybe even less) and still very likely win – or, at least, take a medal in – the Tokyo 200m IM.
“We’ve all seen the photo of Katie and I when she was nine, and the photo of Joe and I”, Phelps told reporters after the race.
“I think he wants to wrap it up knowing that he gave everything and prepared well did it the right way”, Bowman said.
This was how he really wanted to go out.
Utterly ridiculous stuff. Now he goes into retirement and, assuming he actually sticks to it this time, you’d have to think he has a long and satisfying life ahead of him, looking back on some great memories and polishing his extensive medal collection.
It is no idle boast.
The U.S. men play France in the Olympic tournament on Sunday and they’re being dogged by questions over where the dominating team of years past has gone. His span of five Olympics is more than any other American swimmer. After finishing second in the 50-meter freestyle, the 20-year-old anchored the women’s 400-meter medley relay. “I hope not. You know the guy is still so good, he could still offer so much as a competitor”.
Bowman, who first detected the determination he cites as Phelps’s greatest asset when he began coaching the 11-year-old swimmer, has lived through some stormy times with Phelps. Phelps “lifted” the entire American performance here, Ervin said. London made him mortal but the immortality is back. I know Phelps is a father now and that he obviously loves his fiancee and his baby and he’s going to have a wedding soon.
Phelps dove into the pool in second place.
It’s impossible not to watch Usain Bolt when he’s on the track. “But here they realize it’s finally the end of something special”.
Then he and his teammates grabbed a sign that said, “Thank You Rio”. He was said to be exhausted of the sport at the time, but returned to the pool about a year and a half later. “I couldn’t be happier with how things ended”.
The happiness has not always been there.
American Justin Gatlin posted the fastest time in the Rio heats.
Because of Phelps, swimming is now what the International Olympic Committee considers an “A”-level sport for funding, along with gymnastics and track and field”.
Phelps was just 15 when John Lohn, U.S. correspondent for the highly-regarded website Swim Vortex, first saw him compete – and he has followed his career in the intervening 16 years.
“Every one (Olympics) is special in a way and every medal is special in a way. That’s Phelps – singlehandedly he’s elevated the profile of the sport”.
“He doesn’t need this, his legacy is going nowhere, which makes this more awesome”, he said. USA Swimming is, first and foremost, in the business of winning Olympic medals. “Michael Jordan had it. that killer instinct”.
Michael Phelps claimed his 23rd gold medal. So athletes – with the exception of Phelps, forced to San Antonio – were either at one or the other.
At Rio this year he snapped the record for most individual title wins.
Standing atop the medal podium for the 23rd time, listening to the “The Star-Spangled Banner” as he’s done so many times before, Phelps teared up a bit and gave a little nod.
He added: “I wouldn’t change anything”. One night after his only setback of the games, an upset loss to Joseph Schooling in the 100 fly, Phelps was back on top. What he has done will likely never be bettered.
GOODBYE GREEN: After blaming algae, heat and even the number of swimmers for the green water at Maria Lenk Aquatics Center, officials now say a contractor mistakenly dumped hydrogen peroxide into the pool, causing an adverse reaction with chlorine.
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When asked to describe in one word what Phelps had achieved and the wider impact on the whole sport, he simply said “remarkable”.
