Michael Phelps sat alone, thoroughly exhausted. He put his head in his hands and then motioned at his neck as though he had nothing left to give. No need. His work was done. He had his 20th and 21st Gold medals.
Phelps made up for one of the rare losses in his brilliant career by winning the 200-meter butterfly on Tuesday, a victory that sent him climbing into the stands to kiss his 3-month-old son Boomer.
An hour later, he returned to take what amounted to nothing more than a triumphant victory lap in anchoring the 4x200 freestyle relay, the crowd’s deafening roar growing louder with every stroke. “That was one of my most challenging doubles,” 31-year-old Phelps said. “Doing a double like that is a lot harder than it once was,” he said.
It was another performance for the ages, but Phelps has done it so many times that nothing else would have been fitting. It came on a night that American teammate Katie ledecky picked up her second Gold on way to a historic run of her own in the pool.
Phelps now has 25 medals in all, and three more races in Rio to add to his unimaginable total. No other Olympian has more than nine Golds. “That's a lot of medals,” Phelps said, “it's just insane.”
The 200 fly was the one he really wanted, and it showed. With challengers all around, Phelps simply wouldn't be denied. With his head nearly at the wall, he took one more stroke to make sure he got there first, his arms slamming against the timing pad. “Going into the finish I said, 'If I have to take a half-stroke, I'm going to take a half stroke’,” Phelps said. That split-second decision got him to the wall ahead of everyone else, by a mere four-hundredths of a second.
When Phelps saw the "1'' by his name, he held up one finger. Then he sat on a lane rope, egging on the roaring crowd at the Olympic Aquatics Centre with both hands, before emphatically pumping his fist.
Tears welled in his eyes as he listened to the national anthem — until one of his buddies from Baltimore cracked him up shouting "O'' like they do at Camden Yards before Orioles' Games. Then, during the customary stroll around the pool to pose for photographers, Phelps broke ranks and bounded into the stands to plant a kiss on Boomer, the son who symbolises just how much Phelps’ life has changed since a second drunken-driving arrest two years ago.
“I wanted to hold him longer,” he said. “It’s good to see he’s awake. He usually sleeps all the time.” Phelps held off Japan's Masato Sakai with a time of 1 minute, 53.36 seconds, but that number was of little concern.
The only thing that mattered was beating everyone else. “The last 10 meters were not fun,” Phelps said. “My gosh, I thought I was standing still.”
Phelps retired after the london Games, so it looked like he wouldn't get a chance to make up for his defeat. But when he decided about a year later to start competing again, the 200 fly was the title he sought most. “This is the race I really wanted back,” he said.
The relay was much less dramatic. Conor Dwyer, Townley Haas and Ryan lochte went out ahead of Phelps, handing off a commanding lead to the most decorated athlete in Olympic history.
Phelps spent the next 100 seconds soaking up the cheers. He was only the third-fastest swimmer on his team, but he was a full body length ahead of Britain's James Guy when he touched in 7:00.66. The British claimed Silver in 7:03.13, while Japan took the Bronze in 7:03.50. AP