Michael Phelps retires at 27 and steps away from the pool after making unprecedented waves at this year’s London Olympics. Here’s the BBC with commentary on his last finish.
“That is the end of Michael Phelps, and where does he finish? He finishes right on top. His 18th Olympic gold medal... Utterly brilliant.”
Phelps swam the third leg of the 4x100m medley relay, helping team USA solidify win. The first place finish yielded Phelps’ 22nd medal — the most in Olympic history.
But he’d already broken records when he got his 19th medal. Fox News reports Phelps spent the last part of Saturday morning responding to messages on Twitter before his last race. The Twitterverse exploded with congratulatory tweets for Phelps and his teammates after the win with some messages coming from other superstar celebrities.
I’m still not sure what that was. But, as you might remember, the spotlight wasn’t on Phelps coming into the Olympics. Al Jazeera reports.
“He just got better and better throughout this swimming meet. He was written off in the beginning but now arguably, he is the swimmer of this meet.”
Duncan White, a writer for The Telegraph speculates it was Phelps’ desire to end his career on his own terms that drove him to greatness.
“He went back to work with redoubled energy. The reason for his rediscovered hunger? The thought of not being able to control the way his career came to a close...”
