Michael Phelps Sets Record With 19th Olympic Gold Medal
By Melissa Noble
Photography by: Splash News, Getty Images
CAUTION: SPOILERS AHEAD!
After suffering a loss to Ryan Lochte and two others by finishing fourth in the Individual Medley over the weekend, Michael Phelpsmanaged to carve his way back to the headlines by scoring his 19th gold medal, the most of any Olympian before him.
After winning the silver in the 200 butterfly, Michael, Ryan, Conor Dwyer and Ricky Berenstook home the gold for the Men's 200 meter relay.
Michael swam the last leg of the race and joked to USA Today he warned the others to give him a "big lead."
"They gave it to me. So I just wanted to hold on," he said. "And I thanked them for being able to allow me to have this moment. It has been a pretty amazing career but we still have a couple of races left."
Did Michael Phelps break the #Olympics medals record? (Click to findout, guys. Spoiler attached!) http://ow.ly/cDOkx
Michael Phelps: Did He Break the Olympic Medals Record?
BY MAGGIE COUGHLAN
Tuesday July 31, 2012 04:40 PM EDT
Michael Phelps
Diego Azubel/EPA/Landov
The question on everyone's mind Tuesday was: Would swimmer Michael Phelps break the Olympic record for the most career medals?
And he did it! The 27-year-old made history Tuesday when he won his 18th and 19th medals, making him the most decorated Olympian in any sport. He took home the silver for the 200 butterfly and ended the night by winning gold in the 4x200 freestyle relay.
From left: Conor Dwyer, Ryan Lochte, Ricky Berens and Michael Phelps at bottom celebrating Phelps's record-breaking race
Jae C. Hong / AP
Latynina is still the only female Olympian to win nine gold medals.
Throughout his career, Phelps' has won 15 gold, two silver and two bronze medals.
As is always the case with swimming, wins and losses are often distinguished by less than a second. Michael lost the gold in the 200 butterfly by half a second, but won the gold for the same even in 2008 by edging out the opponent by .01.
