After being denied a fifth gold of the Games by Singapore’s Joseph Schooling in the 100m butterfly, and dead-heating with Chad le Clos and Laszlo Cseh Phelps for silver, Phelps was inevitably asked the six million dollar question. American Phelps, 31, took an unprecedented three-way joint silver with a time of 51.14sec alongside South Africa’s Chad le Clos and Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh.
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Having set a fierce pace over the first 50 metres, the 21-year-old pulled further clear on the way home, leaving the rest of the field trailing in his wake.
Speaking to local newspaper The Straits Times, Schooling’s father Colin Schooling described it as a “real privilege” for his son to swim with Phelps, while his best friend Teo Zhen Ren joked that he would call his friend the “Phelps-slayer” for some time. I idolized him and he’s the ideal guy to follow, what is it 22, 23 gold medals.
This will be a defining image of the Rio Olympics: Michael Phelps and two more of the world’s greatest swimmers holding hands on one step of the podium. “I’m just honored and privileged to have the chance to race alongside him”.
“That’s why I came back after ’12”. “I’m excited to see how much faster than he can go”.
“A lot of this is because of Michael”, Schooling said.
“This is it. I’m not doing it”.
Phelps, who finished in a three-way tie for silver, is the three-time reigning gold medalist in that event and had already claimed four gold medals in each of the finals he swam in Rio de Janeiro. He has one event remaining, the 4×100 medley relay on Saturday, before bowing out. “I think so. I really think so”.
“I’m proud of Joe”, Phelps said.
That meant winning back the men’s 200m butterfly title that Le Clos took from him four years ago, and he declared “mission achieved” on that last Wednesday.
Phelps has indicated the 2016 Olympics in Rio will be his last.
“Being able to close the door on this sport how I want to, that’s why I’m happy now”, he said.
“If I cry in front of all of you all, it’s because I have nothing to be ashamed of”, he said.
Ledecky also became only the third American woman to win four gold medals in a single Olympics, following fellow swimmers Amy Van Dyken and Missy Franklin.
In 2001, the NCAA’s Division I schools adopted a rule that allowed athletes to accept money under the U.S. Olympic Committee’s Operation Gold program, which provides a limited amount of cash based on athletes’ performances at the Olympics or, in non-Olympic years, a world championships or similar competition.
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Yep, the guy who beat Michael Phelps is an old fan of his.
