Live Rio Olympics: Swimmers go for gold, rowing and men’s rugby start
HE’S arguably the greatest Olympian ever and now, after winning his 21st Olympic gold medal, US swimmer Michael Phelps has told teammates his time is almost up.
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AFTER 21 Olympic gold medals, some of us has started to question whether American swimming sensation Michael Phelps is actually human.
Phelps added to his incredible medal tally on day four of the Rio games taking out the men’s 200m butterfly then backing up shortly after to anchor Team USA in the 4x200m freestyle relay.
But it turns out Phelps is mortal after all.
The 31-year-old looked visibly spent following his last race of the day, sitting on the blocks hunched over trying to find his breath.
“I think he said, ‘I’m too old for this!’” Phelps’ relay teammate Townley Haas revealed as they climbed out of the pool.
Even for the Olympics’ most decorated individual, the lead-up to his 21st gold didn’t go quite to plan.
“Yeah his cap ripped,” US relay member Conor Dwyer said. “He called my name and I looked around and he didn’t have a cap so I turned mine inside out and gave him my cap. He was a little rattled but we’ve seen him go through many ups and downs. I think we saw him win one without goggles in 2008 so I knew he’d be fine with a new cap.”
Haas believes the continued success of USA can be put down to the mateship among the team.
“I think we’re just feeding off everyone else,” he said. I know Michael’s swim just got me pumped up. It was just awesome to watch that. Especially with all the words flying around and the Phelps face and stuff. It got me so ready to go and I think we kinda feed off each other.”
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Originally published as Live Rio Olympics: Swimmers go for gold, rowing and men’s rugby start
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