He announced his return two years later.
Advertisement
Once the pupil, photographed as a boy alongside his childhood idol Phelps, he put in a masterful performance to deny the American a 23rd and final individual gold in a race that will also be long remembered for a three-way dead-heat for second.
That victory, the 13th individual triumph of his Olympics career, meant he surpassed the greatest athlete of ancient Greece and indeed of the Games – Leonidas of Rhodes.
The 21-year-old Schooling got Singapore’s first gold ever and set a new Olympic record.
Perhaps in another 2,000 years the stories of Phelps and his exploits will be shared around the table given his astonishing record. Ryan Lochte, who will be 36 when the next summer Olympics roll around, intends to race in the 2020 Tokyo Games.
The Iron Lady is chasing her fourth gold medal.
United States’ Carli Lloyd lies on the ground during a quarter-final match of the women’s Olympic football tournament between the United States and Sweden in Brasilia Friday Aug. 12, 2016.
The frenetic finishes in the swimming pool capped a day that included a big escape by the USA men’s basketball team and a stunning loss by the women’s soccer squad.
She also followed fellow swimmers Amy Van Dyken and Missy Franklin as the only American women to win as many as four golds in a single Olympics.
“My first gold medal, at my first Olympics, is kind of a surprise to me”, Manuel told reporters. “I had to think about what was going on and make sure I had a lane for (Friday’s butterfly final)”. “I told him to go four more years and he said ‘No way'”.
Phelps has already amassed three golds at the Rio Games and has other priorities, balancing the need to qualify comfortably without damaging his chances for the evening men’s 200m individual medley final.
Kaneto grabbed the lead on the third of four laps and powered to the finish comfortably in front.
Still, it wasn’t all bad for Serbian basketball Thursday – the Serbian women’s team won its first basketball game in Olympic history by beating China 80-72.
“He’s been through it all, and just being beside him, walking beside him and celebrating, I’ll really cherish that for the rest of my life”.
“The 100-meter backstroke is actually the one that comes more naturally for me so that’s the one I was really gunning for”. It goes back to the Olympic trials in Omaha, Neb., in late June and early July.
And the gold medal isn’t the only thing Schooling will take away from these Olympics.
This is one of the most anticipated rivalries of the opening week of the games between two nations who have gone toe-to-toe in the velodrome for over a decade, winning 14 of the last 15 world championships in the team pursuit between them.
Phelps hustled off after his victory, knowing he had to come back about 40 minutes later for the semifinals of the 100 butterfly, another event he’ll be trying to win for the fourth straight time. “It turned out that way”. At 31, he became the oldest swimmer to win an individual event.
Advertisement
“My doping is my training, my doping is Jesus – otherwise I’m crystal clear”, she smiled. “Were the papers here, I’d sign them tomorrow”.
