Michael Phelps breaks record for most Olympic medals with gold in relay

Michael Phelps became the most decorated athlete in Olympic history when his gold
in the 4x200 metres freestyle relay took him to 19.
The 27-year-old had equalled Larisa Latynina's record earlier on Tuesday evening
with silver in the 200m butterfly.
The United States swimmer's first gold at London 2012 moved him beyond the
Russian whose record had stood since 1964 to stand alone at the pinnacle with three
more events to come. The 27-year-old started the evening with 14 gold, one silver
and two bronze medals over three Olympic Games since 2004.
He paid tribute to his three relay team-mates after clinching the record. "I told those
guys I wanted a big lead in the last leg and they gave it to me, Phelps said. "I just
wanted to hold on, I just wanted to thank them for allowing me to have this
moment."
Phelps has always maintained he is not interested in medal counts and will be
furious with himself after Chad le Clos of South Africa beat him on the touch in the
200m butterfly. It is a measure of the expectations placed on the Baltimore swimmer
that there was audible shock around the Aquatics Centre, a feeling of deflation even.
However, credit is due to Le Clos who swam a superb race to take advantage of
Phelps' poor judgement, the American gliding into the wall rather than finishing on a
full stroke as has been his hallmark. The South African won in one minute 52.96
seconds, 0.05secs ahead of Phelps with Japan's Takeshi Matsuda third.:::