LONDON — Michael Phelps sat in the warm-down pool after the final race of his Olympic career and thanked his coach, Bob Bowman, for making him the greatest swimmer of all time.
"That's not fair," Bowman said.
"What's not fair about it?" Phelps said.
"You were in the pool."
"Yeah, my tears can hide behind my goggles. Your tears are streaming down your face."
The steely-eyed competitor behind the goggles didn't used to allow outsiders peeks into his inner sanctum. But Phelps recalled that conversation for a room full of reporters on the night he ended an interstellar Olympic career in the way history demanded, with gold.
Phelps won his fourth gold medal of the Games, and 18th of his life, in the 400 medley relay Saturday — in the last race of the night, of the meet, of his life.
Matt Grevers put the Americans in front on the backstroke. Brendan Hansen relinquished the lead to Japan's Kosuke Kitajima on the breaststroke. Phelps got it back on the butterfly and freestyler Nathan Adrian brought it home. Perfect. One last time, Phelps surged to the front in Olympic water.
What will he write in his journal about this night? No clue, he said at first. Then he thought maybe this: I did it.
"I've been able to do things no one else has ever done," Phelps said. "And that's what I've always wanted to do."
No one else has ever done this: 22 medals, 18 gold, two silver, two bronze.
Phelps, 27, told one and all for months that he'll never race competitively again. Not everyone believes him.
Mark Spitz, for one, thinks Phelps will be back. Reached by phone, Spitz told USA TODAY Sports to expect Phelps in Rio in 2016.
"I think that Michael really and truly believes that this is the end," said Spitz, who won seven swimming gold at the 1972 Munich Games, perfection trumped by Phelps' eight at the 2008 Beijing Games. "But I believe that will be short-lived."
Spitz thinks Phelps will sit out for two years or so, get the itch to compete once more, and dive back in.
Spitz theorizes that Phelps could enter the 100 butterfly and the medley relay in Rio in 2016 and come home with two more gold.
"That's what I think is going to happen," Spitz said. "And, you know, his mom has said she'd like him to go. And you always want to do what your mom wants."
"That's not fair," Bowman said.
"What's not fair about it?" Phelps said.
"You were in the pool."
"Yeah, my tears can hide behind my goggles. Your tears are streaming down your face."
The steely-eyed competitor behind the goggles didn't used to allow outsiders peeks into his inner sanctum. But Phelps recalled that conversation for a room full of reporters on the night he ended an interstellar Olympic career in the way history demanded, with gold.
Phelps won his fourth gold medal of the Games, and 18th of his life, in the 400 medley relay Saturday — in the last race of the night, of the meet, of his life.
Matt Grevers put the Americans in front on the backstroke. Brendan Hansen relinquished the lead to Japan's Kosuke Kitajima on the breaststroke. Phelps got it back on the butterfly and freestyler Nathan Adrian brought it home. Perfect. One last time, Phelps surged to the front in Olympic water.
What will he write in his journal about this night? No clue, he said at first. Then he thought maybe this: I did it.
"I've been able to do things no one else has ever done," Phelps said. "And that's what I've always wanted to do."
No one else has ever done this: 22 medals, 18 gold, two silver, two bronze.
Phelps, 27, told one and all for months that he'll never race competitively again. Not everyone believes him.
Mark Spitz, for one, thinks Phelps will be back. Reached by phone, Spitz told USA TODAY Sports to expect Phelps in Rio in 2016.
"I think that Michael really and truly believes that this is the end," said Spitz, who won seven swimming gold at the 1972 Munich Games, perfection trumped by Phelps' eight at the 2008 Beijing Games. "But I believe that will be short-lived."
Spitz thinks Phelps will sit out for two years or so, get the itch to compete once more, and dive back in.
Spitz theorizes that Phelps could enter the 100 butterfly and the medley relay in Rio in 2016 and come home with two more gold.
"That's what I think is going to happen," Spitz said. "And, you know, his mom has said she'd like him to go. And you always want to do what your mom wants."