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Phelps goes out with gold on record breaking last day in the pool

Paul Giblin: 0 Comment(s)Print E-mail Xinhua, August 5, 2012

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By Sportswriter Paul Giblin

LONDON, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- Olympics came to a suitably dramatic end on Saturday night as Michael Phelps swam the last competitive race of his career.

The man who had already made Olympic history was part of the US 4x100 meter medley relay team which closed the swimming at these Games by winning the gold medal and giving Phelps the 18th gold medal and the 22nd Olympic medal of his career.

But the American's had to work for gold after being hard-pressed by the Japanese team, who led at the end of the second leg, thanks to a great breaststroke from Kosuke Kitajim and it wasn't until Phelps hit the turn in the butterfly leg that the US went in front.

That left Nathan Adrian to swim it home and perhaps aware of the responsibility of history on his back, he made no mistake, opening the lead further ahead of Japan, who finished second and the Australians, who took bronze.

"We're united, we're tough and we're proud. Having Michael Phelps with us for his last swim is pretty tremendous," said Matthew Grevers, who swam the backstroke leg.

"Tonight is the craziest night. I dreamt about this. Bob Bowman and I worked together for this. Looking back at my career, I've seen that I've done what I wanted. I don't think I'll be warming down after this," said Phelps, who draws the curtain on his incredible career.

But the crowd had plenty to enjoy before Phelps' moment. The night started with the women's 50 meter freestyle won by Holland's Ranomi Kromowidjojo, who flashed across the pool in an Olympic record time of 24.05, followed by Alaiksandra Herasimenia from Belarus and Marleen Veldhuis, also from Holland.

Kromowidjojo won the 100 meters freestyle earlier in the week and can now claim to being the fastest around over short distances, although she admitted she had fallen onegold medal short of her target.

"I came here hoping for three gold medals. We were hoping to do better in the 4x100m freestyle and I felt the pressure from myself, the country and the rest of the world but the best we could do was silver. I have trust in the Netherlands that I didn't let them down," she commented.

On a night of contrasts, the dash across the pool was followed by the longest indoor race and Sun Yang ensured he would be one of the names of the Games by winning the 1,500 meters freestyle, while breaking his own world record.

Sun won in a time of 14.31.02, eight and a half seconds ahead of his nearest rival and 3.12 seconds faster than the record he set in Shanghai in 2011.

However, Sun,, who went into the race with a gold medal from the 400 meter freestyle and bronze from the 200 meter and 4x200 meter medley had a nervous moment when he fell into the pool before the race began.

Amid calls for quiet from the area announcer for quiet before the start, Sun was allowed to take his place back on the blocks and once the race began, he immediately swam into the lead with Park Taehwan and Ryan Cochrane giving chase.

After 700 meters Sun was three and a half seconds ahead of Cochrane as Park faded

The gap had widened by the 900 meters mark as Sun upped the pace and began to close in on the record time, while Oussama Mellouli overhauled Park to move third.

With 300 meters to go Sun was over six seconds ahead as the crowd began to cheer him home. Cochrane did well to hold on for silver, but Sun took the applause, the record and gold.

"I've put a lot of effort into this since 2008 and so it really means a lot to me. The USA have done it and the Europeans have done it, so why can't a Chinese swimmer do it," commented Sun.

"I didn't set up any aims or objectives for the record before the race, but my coach did because I am in a good condition and there was a possibility," he said.

Sun also discussed the moment when he so nearly lost everything. "I can't even think about it. I was really worried. I looked at my parents at first. I don't know what they were thinking at that moment and I had to prove myself if I was given a second chance," he said, before adding that he had been able to put the fall into the pool to the back of his mind during the race.

And then all that was left were the two medley relays: The US fielded a fearsome women's team led out by Missy Franklin on backstroke and followed by Rebecca Soni, two swimmers who have set new world records this week in London. Dana Vollmer, another record breaker in London, opened their lead even further in butterfly and Alison Schmitt swam brought it home in the freestyle to seal gold and a new world record of 3.52.05.

"I honestly couldn't think of a better way to end it, that was so perfect in every way. It was the most fun relay I've ever been on, these relays have been so exciting. Every single team in the ready room tonight was laughing and joking," said Franklin, who has won four gold medals at these Games.

Vollmer meanwhile said that the record had not been their primary objective. "As a team, we've never really talked about records beforehand, we just had extremely high expectations of ourselves individually," she commented.

Australia finished second, while Japan took another creditable bronze to seal a satisfactory Games in the pool.

That set the stage for the men's race and the end of an era. Enditem