By Aaron Miller-
US Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, has announced that he has decision to retire after 23 remarkable career of outstanding achievement on the international stage.
The American swim team had just finished celebrating their Olympic triumph in the 4 x 100 m when, their team hero, Michael Phelps, announced the end of his glittering Olympic medals career, comprising of 23 gold, 6 silver, and one bronze – at the 2020 Tokyo Games.
“I am done, boys,” the proud American said with a broad smile on his face.
This is not the first time Phelps has said he would retire. The talent American stated the same after the previous Games in London in 2012, but he changed his mind and participated again in Rio, leading speculation that this may not be the last time he represents America in the games again.
However, he seems more serious this time, though only time will tell.
The 31 year old swimming legend went further to breaking his previous record in these games.
His 200-meter dominant display of brilliant skill earned him his 13th individual gold medal, breaking the previous record set by ancient Olympian Leonidas of Rhodes, who had won the most Olympic individual medals of all time, taking twelve.
Winning five of the six swimming events he contested in Rio, Phelps was part of a team that set an Olympic record in the 4 x 100 m competition, falling short only in the men’s 100 meters butterfly to 21 year old Joseph Schooling.
Whereas Phelps demonstrated that he was the best athlete of the modern era in the Beijing 2008 Games, He broke Mark Spitz’s record of seven first-place finishes at any Olympic Games, winning eight gold medals in the 2008 Beijing Olympic games. This year, at the Rio Olympics, he proved himself the swimmer of all times in his unrivaled success.
The swimming competition will have a void at the next Olympics games, but his epic accomplishments will be in the record books forever.