Singaporean Phelps conqueror to Mo Farah’s magic, here’s who stole our hearts in Rio

WHO was the champion who stole your heart in Rio - Michael Phelps for winning five golds or the boy who beat him for winning one? Robert Craddock looks at the stars of Rio.

Joseph Schooling of Singapore was the only man in Rio to defeat the great Michael Phelps in a final

WHO was the champion who stole your heart in Rio - Michael Phelps for winning five gold medals or the boy who beat him for winning one?

Stardom at the Rio Games was a mixture of the great moments - think Phelps and Usain Bolt - and the quirky surprises such as a boy from - of all places - Singapore lowering Phelps colours in the 100m butterfly.

Sometimes brilliance and quirkiness came in the same package such as with Britain’s Brownlee brothers, Alistair and Jonathan.

They ran one-two in the triathlon, overcoming some awkward moments such as when they were jogging side by side and Alistair took two drinks from a cart then proceeded to tip them both over himself as his brother looked on thinking “oh, I thought one of them was mine.’’

The Games had stories of domination which did not get the world wide acclaim they deserved such as New Zealand rowers Eric Murray and Hamish Bond who won their 69th consecutive race in the coxless pairs.

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There were athletes who became famous for being infamous such as swimmer Ryan Lochte, others whose tears caught us by surprise such as Novak Djokovic whose distress at being eliminated early in the tennis tournament did as much for the credibility of it as Andy Murray did by winning it because it proved he cared.

There were stars who made us drop our jaws and scratch our heads at the same moment such as Ethiopia’s Almaz Ayana who beat the women’s 10,000m world record by 14 seconds.

Some stars were villains as well, such as Justin Gatlin, the twice convicted drug cheat no one wanted to see beat Usain Bolt in the men’s 100m. But, it must be said, the Games would not have been the same without him.

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There were surprise, usung stars for Australia with off-beat stories to tell such as the archery team who snatched Australia’s first team medal - a bronze.

On a recent overseas trip, the archers asked a group of passing school children to try and cheer madly to distract them to replicate the atmosphere they got in Rio. They were a low budget team who surprised the world.

There were upsets and outrage but the big stars generally got the job done.

Here’s 10 standout stars of the Games.

BOLT: The first sign of the Olympics in Rio for tourists was a gigantic poster of Bolt at the international airport. Games organisers gambled heavily on his star power. He never looked like letting them down. After winning gold he would often spend two hours doing interviews and end up more exhausted from talking than from running.

PHELPS: Swimming may never see anything like him again. The best shots of him were not on video but still shots by press photographers which had his powerful frame, in all its rugged glory, emerging in his butterfly stroke with all the force of a human submarine.

AUSTRALIAN WOMEN’S RUGBY TEAM: The sight of this group of exotic trail-blazers, arm in arm, looking joyfully at each other at the heavens after their 24-17 win over New Zealand in the gold medal match final encapsulated the spirit that will underwrite the success of the code long after the Games are finished.

SIMONE BILES: Most appropriately she hails from a town called Spring in Texas and that is what she did to near perfection in winning five gymnastic medals (four gold). Standing just 142cms she became a global star at the Games with the world enchanted by her rise as the daughter of a mother who was battling drug and alcohol issues, forcing Simone be raised by her grandparents who guided her to stardom.

MACK HORTON: Winning the 400m freestyle gold actually generated him less publicity than his fearless, forthright stance against drug cheat Sun Yang from China. His brutally unvarnished quote - “I didn’t have a choice but to beat him’’ - delivered sitting a metre away from the man he was talking about will be remembered as one of the most gripping moments of the Games.

MO FARAH: They said the only way they could beat him was if he fell over - but he did and it didn’t matter. He rousing recovery and victory in the 10,000m gave the Somalian born British star a rich extra layer to his remarkable story as he became the only British track athlete to win three Olympic golds.

KYLE CHALMERS: There are few things as stirring for Australia as the sight of a teenage underdog bursting through the pack and snatching Olympic gold, especially in the coveted 100m freestyle where the Big Tuna was the seventh ranked competitor entering the Games and set himself a personal passmark of just making the final.

THIAGO DA SILVA: When the 22-year-old Brazilian pole vaulter soared high into the late night air to clear an Olympic record 6.03m and take the gold, all of his country went with him. Bars erupted, taxis hooted. It was his personal best by 10cms and there was celebrations in the streets and the surprise home town victory every Games needs.

WAYDE VAN NIEKERK: Coached by a great grandmother, drawn eight in the final, South Africa’s van Niekerk provided one of the shocks of the Games when he roared to a victory in 43.03 seconds, beating Michael Johnson’s 17-year-old world record. The brilliantly adaptable 22-year-old is the first athlete to run under 10 seconds for the 100m, 20 seconds for 200m and 44 for 400m.

JOSEPH SCHOOLING: Instant fame. That was always going to be the prize for anyone who beat Michael Phelps this Games. Schooling did it in the 100m butterfly and the charming story of how it represented Singapore’s first gold medal ever, carried a $1 million bonus and came after Schooling had his photo taken with Phelps as a child made it a genuine heart-warming moment.

Originally published as Singaporean Phelps conqueror to Mo Farah’s magic, here’s who stole our hearts in Rio