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RIO 2016

Michael Phelps ends career as Olympics legend

The United States won the men's 4x100 metres medley relay after Ryan Murphy had given them a world record start that propelled Michael Phelps to a 23rd gold medal in his final Olympic race.

Michael Phelps after his final win in Rio.
Michael Phelps after his final win in Rio. Marcos Brindicci/Reuters
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Michael Phelps brought down the curtain on his Olympic career when he helped the USA win 4x100m medley relay gold at the Rio Games on Saturday, taking his personal tally to 23.

Phelps took the lead in the third leg, the butterfly, before Nathan Adrian brought it home as the United States won ahead of Britain and Australia.

Phelps and his teammates took the deck to a thunderous ovation and Ryan Murphy got the Americans off to a blazing start, clocking a world record 51.85sec on the opening backstroke leg.

The victory gave Phelps his fifth gold of the Rio Games after his triumphs in the 4x100m free, 4x200m free, 200m butterfly and 200m individual medley, with a silver in the 100m fly for good measure.

Phelps’ coach believes we will never see his likes again.

"Absolutely not, I'm not even looking," Bob Bowman said after Saturday's final swimming races.

"He's too special. It's not even once in a generation -- it may be once in 10 generations that someone like Michael comes along.

"He just had so many things going for him: he had the physical skills, the mental outlook, the family that supported swimming. He has an emotional ability to get up for big races and actually perform better under pressure."

Ryan Murphy, like many of Phelps's teammates, was asked if he thought the superstar would really stay retired this time.

"If I was still on top of the world it would be hard for me to go out," he said. "But Michael is a guy who's accomplished everything so it would be hard to continue to have that drive, unless he's trying to go for like 30 medals or something. I don't know what else he can achieve."

However, this 23rd gold medal happens to mark a personal goal for Phelps; his great hero Michael Jordan always wore that number for the Chicago Bulls. “Twenty-three is a special number,” he admitted. “It always has been and now it’ll be even more special. I guess everything happens for a reason. Watching what he did in basketball is something I’ve always dreamed of doing in the sport of swimming.”

“It’s just the perfect way to finish. This is the cherry on the top of the cake that I wanted. I couldn’t be happier with the way things ended.”

The huge celebration over Phelps' performance overshadowed the achievement of the women's 4x100m medley relayers as they captured their country's 1,000 Olympic medal, according to the US Olympic committee, dating back to 1896 when James Connolly won triple jump gold.
 

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