Michael Phelps’ past and present converged at the Rio Olympics in a last explosion of gold for a swimming icon who showed he is more than a “medal machine”.
After amassing 22 medals, 18 of them gold, in four prior campaigns, Phelps delivered an epic ending to his Olympic saga in Rio de Janeiro, powering to five gold medals and one silver in seven days.
He leaves Rio with 28 medals to his name, 23 of them gold. No other athlete in any sport comes close.
In a departure from Games past, Phelps’ fifth Olympics offered a glimpse not only of a sporting great relentless in pursuit of success but also of a man buoyed by warm relationships heading purposefully into a post-swimming life.
That was not a picture presented before by Phelps, not as a young striver in his first Olympics at 15 in Sydney in 2000, not in Athens in 2004 where he arrived working his way up into the heavyweights alongside Ian Thorpe and Pieter van den Hoogenband.
It certainly wasn’t the Phelps of 2008 in Beijing, when the unprecedented achievement of eight gold medals at a single Games required an isolating determination and focus.
London 2012 was supposed to provide the fond farewell. And it wasn’t until after the fact that Phelps lifted the curtain to reveal the anger and unhappiness of those Games, when he wanted nothing more than to be done with swimming.
Despite four gold medals and two silvers, Phelps was “haunted” by knowing he failed to prepare as he could have and particularly stung by the loss of the 200m butterfly title he surrendered to Chad le Clos.
Phelps said he had felt himself “starting to crack” with emotion as he went to the Rio pool Saturday where he played a decisive role in his final relay victory.
“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,” said the 31-year-old.
Rio, according Phelps’ coach of 20 years Bob Bowman, was the swimmer’s chance to fashion the ending he deserved.
“He mentions it all the time that he wants to go out on his own terms — on good terms, not ‘Let’s get out of here,’” Bowman said.
But a comeback launched in 2014 ground to a halt within months when Phelps’ personal demons caught up with him in a Maryland tunnel. He was clocked driving 84mph (135 km/h) in a 45mph zone while under the influence of alcohol.
The incident launched Phelps on a “brutal” personal journey that included a stay at a facility specialising in personal trauma and addiction treatment.
There Phelps, who after his parents’ divorce was brought up by his mother, Debbie, reconnected with his estranged father.
That renewed relationship has taken on even greater resonance since Phelps became a father in May this year.
Bowman, however, said each one of those golds was the product of sweat and stress.
“Every one of those was hard,” Bowman said. “Maybe the very first one was the easiest one. After that they’ve all been super-hard.”
With a personal medal tally that exceeds the total medal count of India and several other countries in the modern Olympics ever since they began in 1896, Phelps is easily the greatest Olympian that ever lived.