Michael Phelps brought down the curtain on his glittering Olympic career when he helped the US win 4x100m medley relay gold at the Rio Games on Saturday, taking his personal tally to 23.
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Michael Phelps was tearing up on the medal podium after earning his 23rd and final Olympic gold medal Saturday night in Rio.
The defending champion, who is trying to become the first player to win two Olympic singles golds, faces Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina in the men’s final Sunday in Rio de Janeiro.
NBC’s total audience delivery rating encompassing NBC, cable and streaming viewing, reached 26.8 million for Saturday, which was still down from the comparable night at the 2012 London Olympics (28 million).
Seeded second, Kerber won the Australian Open in January and was the runner-up at Wimbledon last month.
Farah says “I’d promised my older daughter Rihanna I was going to get a medal for her and in my mind I was thinking I can’t let her down”. He was referring to Phelps and the games planned to be held in Tokyo from July 24, 2020 to August 9, 2020. I think it’s just being able to be alone and in kind of an element that I’ve grown up in and been so accustomed to that yeah, I guess it is kind of peaceful.
However, the favorite for that race has to be Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu, who topped the prelim heats with a time of 2:06.09 and is seeking her fourth gold medal of the Rio Games.
“He’s too special. It’s not even once in a generation – it may be once in 10 generations that someone like Michael comes along”.
“Really just walking into the pool tonight I think everything just really started coming out”. And with that, Phelps re-announced his retirement from the sport of swimming.
Phelps said plans now include dedicating himself to family and travel.
Turning back the clock in his fifth and final Games, Phelps produced a blistering third leg of butterfly to restore the U.S. team’s lead and tee up victory after Britain’s Adam Peaty had threatened to spoil his finale.
Klishina was the only one of 68 Russians cleared to participate in Rio by the IAAF, largely because she has been based outside Russia for the past three years.
Phelps jumped into the water for the last time yesterday (Saturday) and won another Olympic gold medal, his 23.
Earlier in the night, Manuel took silver in the 50 free.
On a victory stroll around the pool, Phelps and his teammates grabbed a sign that said, “Thank You Rio”.
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The U.S. will learn its quarterfinal opponent following Monday’s three Group B games.
