Michael Phelps brought the curtain down on one of sport's most storied careers with a dynamite relay swim to give himself 23 Olympic gold medals and declared it a perfect finale.
The American, far and away the most decorated athlete in Olympic history, finished with five golds and a silver in Rio after signing off in dramatic style, coming to the rescue in the 4x100m medley final.
Turning back the clock in his fifth and final Games, Phelps produced a blistering third leg of butterfly to restore his team’s lead and tee up victory after Britain’s Adam Peaty had threatened to gatecrash his party.
“Getting off the bus and walking to the pool tonight, I pretty much felt myself starting to crack,” confessed Phelps.
“Last warm-up, last time putting on a suit, last time walking out in front of people, representing my country – it’s insane, a lot better than it was four years ago,” added the 31-year-old, who retired after the 2012 London Games before returning for one last hurrah.
More Olympics
• Best of Day 8 in pictures: Elaine Thompson, Monica Puig, Michael Pelps' last hurrah
• Best of Day 7: Almaz Ayana and Katie Ledecky show records made to be broken – like, by a lot
“This is how I wanted to finish my career. I’ve lived a dream come true. Being able to cap it off with these Games is just the perfect way to finish.”
The hullabaloo over the Phelps’ farewell overshadowed the achievement of the women’s 4x100m medley relayers as they captured their country’s 1,000th Olympic medal, according to the United States Olympic committee.
The country’s first medal dates back to 1896, when James Connolly won triple jump gold.
The women’s quartet of Kathleen Baker, Lilly King, Simone Manuel and Dana Vollmer made history, but were made to work.
The Americans, who failed to medal at last year’s world championships, had looked in peril when two-time doping violator Yulia Efimova gave Russia the lead on the breaststroke.
But Vollmer’s butterfly averted a crisis and Manuel brought them home in 3:53.13 almost two seconds ahead of Australia with Denmark taking bronze.
“A 1,000th gold for team USA is a nice number,” said Manuel. “It’s really special. Just sharing that with three other women, it’s the icing on top of the cake.”
Pernille Blume, who swam Denmark’s anchor leg, earlier won gold in the women’s 50m free, inflicting more heartbreak on Australia’s Cate Campbell after her 100m flop.
World champion Gregorio Paltrinieri blazed to gold in the men’s 1,500m in the absence of defending champion Sun Yang, who crushed out in the heats blaming a cold, the Italian smashing a quality field to win in 14:34.57.
Elaine Thompson meanwhile stormed to victory in the women’s 100m to usher in a new era for Jamaican sprinting as the eight-year Olympic reign of compatriot Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce came to an end.
Thompson, 24, got off to a flying start and quickly surged to the front to cross in 10.71sec, punching the air before embracing training partner Fraser-Pryce.
Tori Bowie of the United States took silver with 10.83sec while Fraser-Pryce claimed bronze in 10.86.
After Saturday’s race, Thompson revealed she could never have dreamed of upstaging Fraser-Pryce when the Jamaican star landed her first Olympic 100m title in 2008.
“I look up to her so much but I never thought I’d be sitting here today,” said Thompson.
“When I crossed the line and glanced across to see I was clear, didn’t quite know how to celebrate,” she added.
“There is a big screen back home in my community in Jamaica. I can’t imagine what is happening there right now.”
Fraser-Pryce, 29, had been hoping for a hat-trick of 100m titles after gold medals in the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games.
But it was Thompson who confirmed herself as the standard-bearer of Jamaican women’s sprinting with an imperious display.
“What I’m most happy about is that the 100m title is staying in Jamaica,” said Fraser-Pryce, who raced with her hair dyed in Jamaica’s national colours.
“I’m on the podium with my training partner. I’m proud of Jamaica – just look at my hair,” she added, paying tribute to Thompson.
In the heptathlon, two days of gruelling competition came down to two crucial seconds in the final 800m race, as Belgium’s Nafissatou Thiam usurped Jessica Ennis-Hill as Olympic champion.
At the end of a gripping competition, Thiam went into the two-lap race with a 142-point lead over the defending champion. Given the duo’s personal bests over 800m, that equated to Thiam getting around within 9.47sec of Ennis-Hill to claim victory.
Although the Briton produced a sterling gun-to-tape showing, Thiam came in 7.47sec behind to ensure gold by the narrowest of margins.
“I went into the 800m knowing I had about nine or 10 seconds on Jessica,” said the 21-year-old Thiam, whose gold was only Belgium’s fourth athletics medal and first since 2008.
“I just tried to do my best and have no regrets so I could leave thinking I gave it all.”
Imperious distance runner Mo Farah said he was thrilled to make history after becoming the first British athlete to win three Olympic track golds after defending his 10,000m title on Saturday.
Farah was clipped by American training partner Galen Rupp on lap 10 of the 25-lap race, tumbling to the track but quickly getting back to his feet.
“When I fell I thought the dream was over, I dug deep,” said Farah, who has now racked up eight successive wins in the 5,000m or 10,000m at a World Championships or Olympics since 2011.
“I promised my eldest daughter Rihanna a medal so I couldn’t let her down.
“That’s why I was so emotional at the end, it almost went.”
In tennis, Monica Puig hopes her landmark Olympic gold medal for Puerto Rico will be an inspiration for Latin American women.
Puig made history on Saturday when she defeated Australian Open champion and world No 2 Angelique Kerber 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 in the women’s tennis singles final. It was a first gold for the US territory to add to the island’s modest previous haul of two silver and six bronze. She is also the first Puerto Rican woman to medal at an Olympics.
The title charge was a surprise for a player ranked at 34 in the world and who came into Rio on the back of a couple of first round losses, at Wimbledon and Montreal where she was even defeated by a qualifier.
“I’m really proud to represent Latin America and I hope this can be an inspiration to all Latin women that everything can be done in this life,” said Puig.
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport
