While finding an athlete who could challenge the domineering record held by the “Flying Fish” may seem impossible, the USA star who claimed the 22nd Olympic gold of his Olympic career on Thursday, August 11, was denied his 23rd gold medal in the 100m butterfly by a 21-year-old Singaporean who became the country’s first Olympic champion. The shortest individual race in Phelps’ Olympic program has always been his toughest. His three consecutive victories, starting at the 2004 Games in Athens, came by a total margin of 28-hundredths of a second.
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A wait of nearly an hour followed for the medals ceremony but when it came Phelps was crowned champion for the 23rd – and probably final – time.
The 31-year-old American had to settle for silver in Friday’s 100m butterfly as Singapore’s Joseph Schooling produced a dominant performance.
While other kids rushed at Phelps wanting photos, Schooling was frozen. Schooling competed at the 2012 London Olympics, and a year later the government agreed to defer his enlistment for three years to let him continue training in the United States for the Rio Olympics. “He’s the reason why I want to be a better swimmer”.
“I told him what happened and he hugged me and said, “you’re only so young, you still have a long way to go”.
“It hurts. I nearly needed someone to give me a Heimlich manoeuvre a couple of nights ago”.
One hundred and twenty years of thrilling history: Victory, defeat, travail, and triumph. His rivalry with le Clos, while shorter in duration, has been more intense.
Phelps dove into the pool in second place. Singapore’s first medal was a silver in weightlifting at Rome in 1960. “I hope it shows that people from the smallest countries in the world can do extraordinary things”.
In the previous race, Simone Manuel anchored the USA women’s 4×100 metres medley team to the 1,000th gold medal in her country’s Olympic history. His legs felt leaden, but his heart was light.
“It’s kind of special, and a decent way to finish my last individual race”. She joined Amy Van Dyken and Missy Franklin as the only American women to capture as many as four golds in a single games, matched Debbie Meyer as the only females to sweep the 200, 400 and 800 free, and also won silver anchoring the 4×100 free relay. If this is indeed the end for Phelps, this was a good way to go out to say the least.
Lopez adopted a patient approach with Schooling, resisting the temptation to get him in the gym to build more muscle, focussing instead on his technique to allow his body to grow naturally. “Joe should be getting most of the questions”, he said.
Even when he is tripped and falls, he wins an Olympic gold medal. “It’s just insane”, said Schooling, 21. The next generation is all right.
I myself am going to be watching several sports simultaneously today, so I can’t settle on one I’d recommend.
“I wanted to win”.
“I am retiring, but I’m not done, done with swimming”.
With 26 Olympic medals, including 22 golds, Phelps stepped on the blocks knowing that win or lose, he had achieved more than would have seemed possible in 2000, when he was a lantern-jawed 15-year-old finishing fifth in his first Olympic final. “I am not coming back in four years”.
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In the stands, his fiancee, Nicole Johnson, bounced along to the music with their son, 3-month-old Boomer, cradled in her arms.
