Phelps leaves Lochte in his wake one last time at Olympics

“When I hit the wall I was just trying to catch my breath”, said 16-year-old Oleksiak after becoming the first Canadian to win four medals in a single Games.

Phelps finished the final in 1 minute 54.66 seconds on Thursday, nearly two seconds ahead of Japan’s Kosuke Hagino at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium.

Somehow, we should be amazed that at age 31 Phelps remains the best athlete in water.

“I’m just going race by race, day by day”.

Hours later, Phelps blew away rival Ryan Lochte – and everyone else, for that matter – to win his fourth gold medal of the Rio Olympics and 22nd overall with a victory in the 200-meter individual medley. For someone who retired four years ago, Phelps has looked better than ever, capturing a gold medal in each of his first four races.

Boomer will have two more opportunities to watch his father try for gold – in Friday’s 100m butterfly and Saturday’s 4×100 medley relay. I was like, “Wow, I only have to put on a racing suit two more times after tonight” and, “I only have to warm down one more time after tonight”. Since 2000, the USA hadn’t won gold in the event except for that wild 2008 race in which Jason Lezak came back from a body-length down to the French world-record holder to save Phelps’ quest for perfection.

The first track and field medal up for grabs is in the women’s 10,000m with reigning champion Tirunesh Dibaba expected to battle it out with fellow Ethiopian Almaz Ayana for gold.

He will take a mental break from swimming after leaving Rio, but when he returns to the pool to begin training for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, it won’t be in Charlotte. But by also winning gold, Lochte became the second most-decorated male swimmer.

Anything in Rio was gravy.

The last two swimmers to win joint gold were United States pair Gary Hall and Antony Ervin, who shared the men’s 50-meter freestyle title back in 2000. Heroes become more real when we know they’ve battled their own flaws. He’s a family man now.

Manuel and Phelps both got emotional on the medal podium when the national anthem played.

“I thought he did a really nice job”, said his coach Bob Bowman. “It’s obviously a very emotional event for me”. It’s something you just dream of. He won his 100 fly semifinal six minutes after his 200 IM medal ceremony.

Phelps said he was texting with a friend who updated him on the Baltimore score before he went out for his race. “But I was really pleased with today’s medal and the one that came before it because looking back at what happened to me over that time, it’s a big step”.