In the final race of the swimming competition, Team GB found themselves in the lane next to a certain Michael Phelps, and they could not deny him a record 23rd Olympic gold medal on his farewell appearance at this level as the United States of America finished the meet as they began it – dominant. Efimova took silver and American Katie Meili took bronze.
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Michael Phelps closed out the Rio Olympics in the only way imaginable.
Even that statistic seemed to pale against the irrepressible Phelps – and likewise Ryan Murphy’s leadoff backstroke leg, which set a new 100m world record of 51.85.
Cody Miller did his job next with the breaststroke leg. Phelps went third, with Nathan Adrian finishing things up with his freestyle.
After the race, Phelps raised his alarms aloft to acknowledge the cheers from the crowd, while fiancee Nicole wiped tears from her eyes as she cradled their baby, Boomer, in the crowd. She became the first African-American woman to win an Olympic swimming title with her win in the 100 free.
Great Britain finished with six medals from the Olympic swimming meet as Adam Peaty fired the relay squad to a creditable silver medal in the 4×100 medley relay.
In a live video published on his Facebook page in which he answered fan questions, Phelps officially confirmed that he will not be returning to compete in the 2020 Olympic games in Tokyo.
Phelps has won four gold medals and one silver in Rio, cementing his status as the most-decorated Olympian and beating out an ancient record set over 2000 years ago by Leonidas of Rhodes.
Now it’s Phelps’ turn to be shell-shocked, as Schooling put him in a position he’s not used to: second place.
The women’s quartet of Kathleen Baker, Lilly King, Simone Manuel and Dana Vollmer made history, but were made to work. Denmark took bronze in 3:55.01.
After posting the top time in both the preliminaries and the semifinals, Blume came through again on the final night of swimming at the Rio Games.
It was another huge disappointment for sisters Cate and Bronte Campbell of Australia.
Blume was the third Danish swimmer to capture a gold.
Paltrinieri pulled away from the field and was under world-record pace much of the race before fading a bit at the end. China Gold: 13, Silver: 10, Bronze: 16, Total: 39 3.
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Detti rallied over the final laps to pass American Jordan Wilimovksy, who settled for fourth.
