Michael Phelps wins more Olympic medals than any other athlete in history

Michael Phelps swam the anchor leg of the 4x200 meter freestyle relay yesterday in London and helped his team bring home a gold medal for the United States. With nineteen Olympic medals, Phelps is now the most decorated Olympic athlete. "It has been a pretty amazing career but we still have a couple races to go," he said. Phelps told his teammates to give him a good lead as they prepared for the relay race. They did just that. "I started smiling with like 20 meters to go, the first time I think I've ever done that in a race," he said. "I knew we had gotten it."

Phelps still has three events left to swim and he has the chance to raise the bar even higher for aspiring athletes around the World. He will be swimming the 200 I.M., the 100 butterfly and the 4x100 medley relay before his pool time ends in the London Olympics.

Phelps has always said he wanted to achieve something no one else has ever done before. He has definitely reached his goal. As the winner of the most Olympic medals in history, Phelps broke the record set 48 years ago by Larisa Latynina of the Soviet Union. Latynina won 9 gold medals, with a total of 18 Olympic medals, setting the record in 1964. Latynina is now 77 years old. "I saw him swim, and I saw my record swim away," Latynina told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "He's very talented — no doubt about that." She wanted to award Phelps his nineteenth medal, but the IOC would not grant her permission to do so. The New York Times reports: “Latynina had hoped to congratulate Phelps and present him with his record-setting medal. But her daughter and others said that Olympic rules did not allow it. It seemed a shame, a grand moment to celebrate the most prolific Olympic champions squandered by red tape.”

Phelps will be competing in the 100 freestyle on Day 5. His competition is strong in this event. Opponents include James “The Missile” Magnussen of Australia, who currently has the fastest time heading into the finals. Nathan Adrian of the U.S. has the second fastest time followed by Hanser Garcia of Cuba.

Phelps is an inspiration to young athletes. He says as a child he always just wanted to be the best he could be. He does not plan to swim in another Olympics and he is ready to pass the torch to other athletes striving to achieve their athletic dreams.

http://www.newsday.com/sports/olympics/michael-phelps-with-19-medals-ready-to-go-for-more-1.3874409

http://olympics.time.com/2012/07/31/not-done-yet-michael-phelps-become-most-decorated-olympian-of-all-time/

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-33747_162-57483955/who-held-the-medal-record-before-michael-phelps/

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/olympics-fourth-place-medal/larissa-latynina-wanted-present-michael-phelps-record-breaking-040421707--oly.html