2012 Olympic Swimming: Michael Phelps Gets Emotional As Final Races Approach in Last Olympics [VIDEO]
Michael Phelps will be swimming in his last individual race, the 100-Meter Butterfly on August 3rd at 2:38PM EST. The US swimmer's eyes swelled with tears as he stood on the podium for one of the final times in his Olympic career.
"Going into the relay, it'll probably kick into my head more and more," Phelps said regarding his retirement.
Phelps entered the 2012 London Olympics schedule with a slow start compared to his 8 gold medals wins in Beijing 4 years ago. However, after winning his 20th medal, Phelps also managed to finish first in the 100-Meter Butterfly Semi-Finals on Thursday. The US Olympian has 2 more swimming events left on the schedule for a possible advance to his record-breaking career.
"Phelps is out of our league. It's not fair that I'm talking for everybody, but I'm expecting something special tomorrow," Milorad Cavic, a medal contender from Serbia, said.
"I think he's going to go 50.5. I'm going to have to go 50.9 to assure myself a medal."
Phelps clocked in at 50.86 seconds in the 100 Fly Semi-Finals, beating Chad de Clos, who won the second heat.
During the 100-Meter Butterfly preliminaries, le Clos of South Africa clocked in 51.54 seconds and Phelps at 51.72. However, the South African swimmer said he didn't think he could beat Phelps again in the semi-finals of the event.
"It's too short for me I think," le Clos said. "It will be a completely different race. These guys will be a lot quicker than this morning. I hope I can swim the fast time which will get me in the final."
Phelps' specialty is usually in the fly. During his previous 2 Olympic appearances, he has won gold in the 200-Meter Butterfly. However, during the 2012 London Olympic games, Phelps failed to impress by taking silver in his most popular relay and le Clos taking gold.
Phelps earned another victory during the Thursday events winning the 200-Meter Individual Medley Final against Ryan Lochte.
Phelps now holds a record for being the first male swimmer to win the same Olympics event three times in a row. He clocked in at 1 minute, 54.27, beating Lochte who came in third.
"It's a relief to win an individual gold," Phelps said, smiling. "It's something pretty cool and special to threepeat."
