Golden Age: Michael Phelps Adds To His Record Total As Team USA Dominates

Michael Phelps closed out his individual campaign at the London 2012 Olympics in the best way possible on Friday, capturing the 100-meter butterfly title in his final individual swim. It was his 17th gold medal, which just piles on to what was already a nearly untouchable record. The 100-meter fly is also the second event that Phelps has won in three consecutive Olympics.

Phelps was understandably thrilled to close out his individual swimming career in style with a victory. “I’m just happy that the last one was a win,” said Phelps. “That’s all I really wanted coming into the night.”

Missy Franklin is 17-years-old. She looks like an adult, acts more composed than any adult at the Olympics and competes at the highest level, which is why she looked nothing like a teenager in her 200-meter backstroke victory, both during her swim and in the immediate aftermath.

As usual, Franklin was humble after yet another spectacular performance. “I can’t believe what just happened,” said Franklin. “In that last 25, I knew I was giving it everything I had because I couldn’t feel my arms and legs and I was just trying to get my hand to the wall as fast I could ... I could never dream for it to happen like that.”

A couple of the biggest stars in American swimming captured the spotlight at the London 2012 Olympics on Friday, as both Missy Franklin and Michael Phelps captured gold medals in impressive fashion. But perhaps the most impressive performance of them all came from 15-year-old Katie Ledecky.

Ledecky, who is the youngest member of the USA swimming team, was considered a slight underdog to make the Olympic team at U.S. trials. Not only did she make the team, but she easily put away the field in the women’s 800-meter freestyle, defeating Mireia Belmonte Garcia by over four seconds, as well as defending champion and home crowd favorite Rebecca Adlington by nearly six seconds.

Florent Manaudou is the world’s fastest man in the pool after winning the 50m freestyle final at the 2012 Summer Olympics on Friday. The Frenchman surprised when he was the first to touch the wall, doing so in 21.34 seconds as he used a huge push in the final 15 meters to overtake American Cullen Jones, who won silver, finishing just 0.20 seconds behind Manaudou.

Brazil’s Cesar Cielo, the defending gold medalist, finished third (21.59).

After a week of near-misses, Great Britain finally looked like it would get a gold medal swim from Rebecca Adlington. Instead, Katie Ledecky dominated, cruising to victory in the women’s 800m freestyle on Friday.

Ledecky broke fast and held her lead throughout the race, with Adlington second for much of it, but the home country favorite faded in the last 150 meters, ending up with bronze behind Spain’s Miriea Belmonte Garcia.

In his final individual event ever at the Olympics, the all-time medal champion went out in fitting fashion. Michael Phelps won the men’s 100m butterfly, his third gold in London, 17th gold overall and 21st total medal.

It’s also the third consecutive win in the event for Phelps, a feat that was unprecedented ... before Phelps accomplished it in the 200m IM on Thursday. Phelps touched the wall in 51.21, just 0.23 seconds ahead of South Africa’s Chad le Clos and Russia’s Evgeny Korotyshkin, who finished tied for second (both will take home a silver medal).

With the pool portion of the 2012 Olympics nearly complete, Team USA just keeps winning medals. The latest: Missy Franklin’s gold in the women’s 200m backstroke.

Franklin smoked the field for gold in the 200m backstroke, winning by more than a second and setting a new world record at 2:04.06. Russia’s Anastasia Zueva finished second, 1.86 back of Franklin, and American Elizabeth Beisel came in third.

There are only two days remaining of pool swimming events at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. On Friday, there will be four more gold medal races, including the 100m butterfly, where Michael Phelps will hope to add a 21st gold to his overflowing trophy case.

Americans will be competing in all four of the gold medal finals, including Missy Franklin, who will try to outpace the rest of the field in the women’s 200m backstroke.

Michael Phelps’ time at the 2012 Olympics — and, theoretically, in Olympic competition, given his repeated desire to retire after these Games — is almost done, with just the 100m butterfly and the 4x100m medley relay on the way. He could finish with 22 medals, and 18 golds, or as many gold medals as any other Olympian has medals. It’s no wonder people flocked to call him “The Greatest Olympian” on Tuesday, after he snagged his 18th and 19th medals.

But it’s not just Phelps’ prolific medal production that has made him the most celebrated Olympian of the modern era. The era has helped, as the American sports media machine has whirred ever faster during Phelps’ career, and the rush to say something new or different has gotten Phelps lavished with context-free praise for doing the unprecedented.