Michael Phelps ends his swimming career with more gold medals than most countries

Olympic phenomenon Michael Phelps ended his swimming career on a high note Saturday night, winning one last Olympic gold as part of the U.S. team in the men's 4×100-meter medley relay swim.

With 23 gold medals and 28 medals overall, Phelps has far more medals than any other Olympian (the next highest tally of golds is nine). He also has more gold medals than most nations have earned collectively; placed in all-time international rankings, Phelps personally has more golds than all but 32 of the 205 countries participating at Rio.

"It turned out pretty cool,'' Phelps said after that final victory. "It's just a perfect way to finish." Phelps' coach and teammates heaped praise on the swimmer, too. "No matter what country you swim for, you're indebted to Michael Phelps for bringing a lot of exposure to the sport and making it a little more mainstream," said fellow American swimmer Ryan Murphy. "If this is the end, that was a great way to cap off an incredible career."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up