Michael Phelps says he won’t compete in 2020 Olympics
By Brad Weiss
Michael Phelps ended his unbelievable individual Olympic swimming career on Friday with a silver medal in the 100m butterfly, afterwards, he told reporters he would not be back in 2020.
Michael Phelps is the most decorated Olympian of all time, and on Friday, his individual swimming career ended with a silver medal in the 100m butterfly. The 31-year old Phelps told reporters after the game that he was not coming back to compete in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, putting out the flames created by teammate Ryan Lochte. Lochte told reporters he felt Phelps was definitely coming back in 2020, but that was completely wrong.
“I will just clarify that Ryan doesn’t know what he is talking about,” Phelps said, via USA Today, “I am not coming back in four years.”
The 2016 Rio Olympics were another historic one for Phelps, who added another four gold medals to his incredible total. With his silver medal on Friday, Phelps now has 27 Olympic medals, which is more than most countries have ever earned in the history of the Summer Games. While a silver is not the way he would have wanted his individual career to end, he does have another relay to try for gold in on Saturday.
Phelps arrived in the Olympics with little fanfare in 2000, taking fifth place in the 100m butterfly. However, from 2004 until the present, he has been the greatest Olympian of all time and has accomplished things that were never even thought of as possible.
On Thursday, Phelps won his 13th individual gold medal, breaking the longest-standing record in sports. The record 13th gold broke a 2,169-year-old Olympic record set by Leonidas of Rhodes, who had a nice run with the record of 12.
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With Phelps gone after the 2016 Olympics, the title of the face of American swimming now belongs to Katie Ledecky, who cemented her place in Olympic history with a historic performance on Friday. Ledecky shattered the world record in the Women’s 800m freestyle, crushing the field by ten seconds. With Ledecky, American swimming is in good hands, and she has Phelps to thank for bringing the cool back into swimming.