Phelps’ 19 Olympic gold medals may stand the test of time

If Michael Phelps were a country, it could put to shame several nations when it comes to their overall medal count ever since the Olympics began in 1896.On Sunday, Phelps won the 19th Olympic gold medal of his astonishing career as he helped the US men’s team to victory in the 4x100 metres freestyle relay to take his personal tally to 23.With the US men having medalled in every Olympics 4x100 freestyle relay since the event was introduced in 1964, there was every chance Phelps was going to add to his haul.Swimming second in the relay, Phelps took over from Caeleb Dressel, just 0.02 seconds behind France and in a few powerful strokes the 31-year-old gave his team the lead.Already far and away the most decorated Olympian of all time, the 31-year-old Phelps showed that he had lost none of his speed or killer instincts after coming out of a brief retirement to provide Team USA with its first win in the event since Beijing, narrowly holding off France and Australia.“It was crazy, I was standing on the block while Caeleb (Dressel) was coming in and I actually thought my heart was going to explode out of my chest,” said Phelps.“Having the amount of excitement cheering in the stands during that race I don’t know if I have heard anything like it.”It was not unusual to see Phelps, who returned for one last tilt at the Olympics after initially retiring following the London Games, standing on the podium, but it was to see the 19-time champion overcome with emotion.             The victory was too much for his younger teammates, who won their first Olympic medals and had to be consoled by their vastly-experienced teammate.With his teammates in tears, Phelps smiled and laughed and hugged them as they took a victory lap around the pool deck.Phelps’ 19 gold medals are the most by any single athlete in the history of the Olympic Games. In second place with nine gold medals each are Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina, Finland running great Paavo Nurmi, American swimmer Mark Spitz and athletics great Carl Lewis.Having made his Olympics debut at the age of 15 at the 2000 Games in Sydney, Phelps, who as a child suffered from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHC), is easily one of the most successful sportsmen of all time.With a few more swimming events lined up at the Rio Olympics, Phelps could take his personal tally higher, making it pretty much impossible for anybody else to overtake him in the future.