They finished first with an Olympic record time of 3 minutes 27.95 seconds.
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Michael ends his Olympic career having won 23 gold medals, three silver and two bronze.
MILLENIAL MEDAL: Sometime very soon, possibly even later Saturday, the United States will lay claim to its 1,000th overall gold medal in the Summer Olympics.
Simone Manuel took a silver medal in the 50m freestyle at 9:03 p.m. ET and anchored the 4x100m medley relay to a gold medal at about 9:50 p.m. ET on Saturday night. His 200-meter individual medley performance won him his 13th individual gold medal, beating a record set by ancient Olympian Leonidas of Rhodes, who had won the most Olympic individual medals of all time, taking twelve.
But the current legacy is illustrated in a decade-old photograph of a delighted nine-year-old Katie Ledecky with Phelps – the American teenager is proving to be the dominant female swimmer of these Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
“I knew that was it”, Phelps said.
“People talk about the Phelps legacy, with some arguing his greatest contribution is yet to be realized with the list of pool performers he has inspired”. “I wanted to come back and finish my career how I wanted and this was the cherry on top of the cake”.
Phelps is now the most decorated Olympian of all time, with 28 medals in all, but he is getting used to carrying a new kind of hardware in his role as dad. But this time around he started reaching out, reaching out to other people, bringing them closer, letting that gap be bridged. “It’s never easy but everyone knows what I can do”.
“To do it in one of the most watched races in the history of swimming, Michael’s last race, is something I’m going to cherish forever”, Murphy said of the 51.85 seconds he swam to eclipse Peirsol’s 51.94.
“I don’t think you’re going to see another Michael”, added Bowman. It’s the family aspect of the equation that Phelps seemed content with the most Monday morning during his interview on NBC.
Phelps, the defending champion and world record holder, took silver in the race along with two of his greatest rivals: South Africa’s Chad Le Clos and Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh. “So I think that’s why I will still incorporate swimming in part of my weekly routine, just because it’s calming and soothing for me”, he said.
“It’s really special”, Manuel said.
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“It’s incredible. Really. I have been dreaming of this moment since I was a child and it’s unbelievable”, said the 21-year-old Paltinieri.
