After adding to his reign as the most decorate Olympian ever , shell a 2,168 - twelvemonth - old Olympics platter , and evenintroducing the human beings to cupping , Michael Phelps performed the glorious ending to his legendary career at the Summer Olympics in Rio . The 31 - year - quondam swimming greatstood atop the Olympics podiumfor the last time on Saturday night , having wonhis 23rd – andfinal– amber medallion as part of the US men ’s 4x100 - meter medley relay team .
Phelps was visibly aroused as he call on to the yawl crowd , which include his fiancé , Nicole Johnson , their Word , Boomer , and his mother , Debbie . The import mark what heinsistswas the last competitive swimming upshot of his life history , as he explains inNBC Sports ' post - race interview .
" I ’m just ready for something different , " he articulate . " My swimming life history might be over , but I have the future out front of me to kind of turn the page and start whatever I desire … It ’s not the death of a career , it ’s the offset of a novel journeying . "
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He also reiterated his retreat programme during a Facebook springy video in the hours before Saturday night ’s race , say , " Go for 30 medals in Tokyo ? I do n’t believe so , boy and girls . This is over , this is it . Tonight ’s the last one and dotty to reckon about . Twenty - four days in the summercater and we ’re finishing up tonight . "
All enunciate , Phelps swim into the sunset with a total of28 Olympic medals– 23 gold , three silver , and two bronze . He take in 13 of those gold palm in single events , violate the old disk of 12 held by an ancient Greek athlete namedLeonidas of Rhodes . For extra perspective , a study by NPRpoints out that out of the 205 countries currently competing in Rio , Phelps has more amber ribbon than all but 32 of them . Damn .
The tributes after Phelps ' last race were swift on Twitter :
So far , it ’s unclear exactly what Phelps will do in his new life outside the syndicate , but his longtime coach , Bob Bowman , toldUSA Todayhe’ll likely dedicate more energy toward his foundation and perhaps coach young swimmers .
“ I ’m retiring , but I ’m not done done with swimming , " Phelps said , per the theme . " This is just the start of something new . "
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