The Olympic curtain came down on Michael Phelps Saturday, but not before he and his U.S. 4×100-meter medley relay colleagues could add another medal to his already record-breaking collection.
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The American legend, 31, revealed he is retiring from swimming following this morning’s 4×100 metre medley relay win.
“I think he wants to wrap it up knowing that he gave everything and prepared well did it the right way”, Bowman said. “Getting off the bus walking into the pool tonight, I pretty much felt myself starting to cry”. They welled up again when the fans greeted his last step up on an Olympic podium with a roar.
“It’s not even once in a generation; it’s maybe once in 10 generations that a Michael Phelps comes along”.
With four gold medals at these games and 22 for his career, Phelps needs some help from his teammates to win another – he leads off with the butterfly leg of the 400 medley relay. He waved at everyone at the pool and mouthed “Thank you!” over and over after winning his final gold in a relay Saturday night, but that gave me a strong feeling of deja vu as well.
“He’s too special”, Bowman said when asked if he was now hunting for someone to take Phelps’ mantle.
The U.S. medal count continues to grow at the Rio Olympics.
The country’s first medal dates back to 1896, when James Connolly won triple jump gold.
Phelps sounds much more adamant when he says his swimming career really is over.
“It was a challenge to get back to this point but this is the cherry on top of the cake that I wanted”. “Twenty three is a special number”.
Gatorade’s “Be Like Mike” commercial debuted in 1991.
But what happens after a year or two?
That renewed relationship has taken on even greater resonance since Phelps became a father. In the 200-meter backstroke, which the Americans had dominated for two decades, 2012 Olympic gold medalist Tyler Clary finished a distant seventh. But he felt overshadowed by the football and basketball players in the halls of his high school.
“My swimming career might be over, but I have the future ahead of me to turn the page and start whatever I want”.
“No matter what country you swim for, you owe a lot to Michael Phelps for opening doors and making swimming more mainstream, at least every four years”, said US teammate Ryan Murphy, who set a world record in the opening backstroke leg of Saturday’s relay.
For the first time in 14 years, the United States didn’t win the overall medal count at the world championships (China did). “To swim that last race with him and get gold, it’s really a dream come true”.
No. 34 in the world Monica Puig won Puerto Rico’s first ever gold medal when she downed Germany’s Angelique Kerber in the second instant tennis classic of the day.
Journalism has been called “the first draft of history”, and journalists often know, in the moment, that we are indeed witnessing history.
As for Phelps’ latest retirement, I’ll believe it when I don’t see it.
The first came 12 years, nearly to the day, before his last.
Michael Phelps is the greatest Olympian of all time. But the 19-year-old American already proved she can soar with astonishing tumbling routines that won the all-around title. The history books awaited. “This is kind of our stage to show the world that”. Over eight nights in Omaha, just a month before the games and following the same schedule of events, swimmers earned their way onto the team before sellout crowds of more than 14,000 at every session.
The headlined drama in Phelps’ personal life sometimes offered new narratives between Games. It’s also about how they support each other in tough workouts or after races – from the intuitive teammates who know who needs a hug and who needs space, to the effervescent ones that pump everyone up.
“I think before I was always looking for shortcuts”, Phelps said.
What he really wanted then was a break from the grind, which is and was perfectly understandable.
Even his lone silver – to Singapore sensation Joseph Schooling in the 100m fly – carried a whiff of the extraordinary: it was a rare three-way tie with le Clos and Phelps’s longtime Hungarian rival Laszlo Cseh.
Phelps, who now has 28 Olympic medals in total, had earlier told fans in a Facebook Live chat that Saturday would be the last time he graced the Olympic pool.
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There’s something to be said for the camaraderie displayed by the American team.
