“It was insane, I was standing on the block while Caeleb (Dressel) was coming in and I actually thought my heart was going to explode out of my chest”, said Phelps.
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Katie Ledecky of the United States broke her own world record on Sunday on the way to winning the women’s 400 meters freestyle gold medal, the first stage of a rare treble she hopes to complete at the Rio Olympics.
Michael Phelps capped an explosive evening of record-breaking and barely concealed needle on Sunday by bagging an astonishing 19th Olympic gold medal in the men’s 4×100 metres freestyle relay.
“It was insane”, said Phelps, competing in his fifth and final Games.
Good to have you back, Samuel! But, hey, Phelps pulled the US team into the lead on his second leg last night and they wongold, his 19th.
Also standing in Phelps’ way is Japan’s Kosuke Hagino, who is ranked No. 1 in the world this year in the 200-meter individual medley and won gold Saturday in the 400-meter IM.
The result gave the Americans their first victory in the relay since the Beijing Games in 2008, when it took a late charge to preserve Phelps’ chances of winning a record eight gold medals.
The Russian doping scandal that has been bubbling away for months finally boiled over on the second night of the swimming finals, and it took the emotion of Michael Phelps winning the 19th gold medal of his career to make us briefly forget it … until the next time a Russian takes the blocks and the stadium boos and jeers.
“That’s been the secret that I have had through this year that keeps me healthy”, gymnast Alex Naddour told The New York Post. “I feel like I stand a little bit taller with those guys”.
Phelps retired four years ago, insisting he was done with swimming, only to return for what he calls his real farewell, the one that will send him out the way he really wants to go. It’s still a strong candidate for the most dramatic race of his career.
Anchor Nathan Adrian of Cal held off a late charge by rival France for the victory in 3 minutes, 09.92 seconds.
The Australians, with plenty of big names of their own, settled for the bronze.
Those ill feelings were pushed aside by the sight of Phelps once more climbing to the top step of the medal podium. Held and Adrian kept it.
Phelps’ showing was reminiscent of the dominance he showed last summer in San Antonio, where he competed in a low-level meet because he was banned from the world championships as part of his punishment for a second drunken-driving arrest. Becoming a father himself for the first time.
“He really just taught me to stay calm”.
His previous fastest 100 free relay split was 47.51.
The only mark that didn’t fall Sunday was the men’s 4×100 free relay.
“He was very much into it”, Bowman said. “I guess we’ll see over the next couple of days”. He hadn’t really done a good 100 free in the season.
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“I know how hard it is to swim in the wake in that race and I was going to do whatever I could to get them out front”. “So he needed to do that”. “That kind of automatically put him in the game”. ‘It’s been better than any money I’ve spent on anything else’.
