Phelps cemented his status as the most successful Olympian of all time by collecting the 23rd gold of his Olympic career in the men’s 100-meter medley relay. He may have re-written the training manual, too.
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While the spotlight was on the 31-year-old, who retired after the 2012 London Games before returning for one last hurrah, the United States women’s 4x100m medley relayers captured their country’s 1,000th Olympic medal.
The American great finished with 5 gold medals and 1 silver at this year’s Games, taking his overall Olympic tally to a breathtaking 23 golds and 28 medals in total.
“It’s just incredible”, Puig said.
“This is how I wanted to finish my career, ” Phelps said.
Great Britain’s Justin Rose led by one shot after Saturday’s third round, with Sweden’s Henrik Stenson his closest challenger – despite a close encounter with some reptilian wildlife on the course.
For Bolt, the day was the start of his attempt to become the first man to win the three track and field sprint events – the 100 meters, the 200 meters and the 4×100 meters relay – in three Olympics. Denmark took bronze in 3:55.01.
After Saturday’s race, Thompson revealed she could never have dreamed of upstaging Fraser-Pryce when the Jamaican star landed her first Olympic 100m title in 2008. It’s hard to imagine any athlete challenging his medal totals – 28 overall, 23 gold – so now it’s time for Phelps to find another pursuit.
Arguably it was best highlighted ahead of the 200m butterfly semifinals, when Le Clos shadow-boxed in front of Phelps – and the American reacted with a death stare that went viral.
By winning his country’s first Olympic gold, Schooling earned a bonus of $1 million Singapore dollars or almost US$750,000.
“I just tried to do my best and have no regrets so I could leave thinking I gave it all”.
Britain’s James Guy, who took on Phelps in the butterfly leg of the relay, said he expects to see the American racing at the Toyko 2020 Olympics.
Sunday afternoon in Rio, he once again declared himself done with competitive swimming and left no room for caveats.
The 33-year-old produced a trademark surge over the last 100m to clock 27 minutes 05.17 seconds in the 25-lap race. Kayaalp stunned Lopez in the 2015 world championships, and a second win over the Cuban would signify a shift in dominance between these long-time rivals. She took silver in the women’s 50 freestyle and then anchored as the USA women won the 4×100 medley.
In tennis, Monica Puig hopes her landmark Olympic gold medal for Puerto Rico will be an inspiration for Latin American women. Puig has long chosen to represent the island where she was born.
SUMGONG’S SIDESTEP: Sumgong had to evade a protester on her way to delivering Kenya’s first gold in Rio, one which may have been saved by the swift intervention of security forces with a kilometer to go.
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13 – The number of individual gold medals Phelps has won, including the 200-meter individual medley on Thursday night.
