FILE: OLYMPICS: Swimmer Michael Phelps breaks Olympic record for most medals with 19

Record ID: 332590

  • Title: FILE: OLYMPICS: Swimmer Michael Phelps breaks Olympic record for most medals with 19
  • Date: 1st August 2012
  • Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (AUGUST 2008) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) PHELPS AT BARBECUE VARIOUS
  • Embargoed: 16th August 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA4ZB0SQ7MX1NCHWBCOLW1JDMRR
  • Story Text: United States swimmer Michael Phelps wins his 19th Olympic medal, breaking the 48-year-old record of Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina.
    For his Olympic swansong at the London Games, U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps was heading into uncharted waters.
    The 27-year-old American has spent his life demolishing records and building a stockpile of gold medals.
    But his final competition developed into a lap of honour after his mind-boggling achievements in Beijing four years ago where he won a record eight titles.
    On Tuesday (July 31) , he finally won his first gold medal of the London Games when he anchored the 4x200 metres freestyle relay team to victory and overhauled Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina's previous record of 18 Olympic medals.
    Less than an hour earlier he had failed to retain his 200 metres butterfly title, finishing with the silver medal.
    Phelps' problem going into the Games was realising that perfection had its own flaws and no matter which direction he looked, the only way forward was down.
    Phelps entered seven events in London, one fewer than Beijing and in Athens in 2004.
    But in a sport where medals are won and lost by the tiniest numbers, the chances of him winning all seven were always slim.
    While his main rivals were swimming faster, Phelps had not set a world record in more than three years and his medal stacks were getting progressively lower.
    At the 2009 world championships, he won five gold medals. In 2011, he won four, and he was always resigned to the prospect that he might not win everything he entered in London.
    Phelps' main obstacle after Beijing was finding the motivation to get out of bed before dawn every day and churn through the thousands of laps he needed to stay at his peak.
    A global sporting icon, who has already amassed a fortune, he does not need the money or the fame and the lure of adding a few more records to his CV started to lose appeal.
    Phelps partied hard after Beijing and his good boy image took a beating. He made regular trips to Las Vegas and, in 2009, he was photographed with a pipe used to smoke marijuana.
    He toyed briefly with the idea of quitting, but rediscovered his motivation through the pain of defeat.
    With his long arms and powerful legs, Phelps is blessed with the perfect natural gifts to slice through the water as gracefully as a dolphin. What sets him apart is the predatory instincts of a killer shark.
    Phelps returned to training with renewed vigour, logging up to 70kms a week and sleeping each night in a high-altitude chamber that was installed in his bedroom.
    His results started to improve and he won four events at this year's U.S. Trials, ensuring that his final lap of honour would at least be a quick one.
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