Michael Phelps Becomes 1st American Male Swimmer to Qualify for 5 Olympics
Michael Phelps booked his ticket to the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, he became the first American
male swimmer to qualify for five Olympics.
Phelps qualified Wednesday after winning the 200-meter butterfly
at the U.S. Olympic trials in Omaha, Nebraska. The 30-year-old narrowly edged
out Tom Shields in the final with a time of 1:54.84. According to Mitch Bowmile of
SwimSwam.com, Phelps was on pace to break his own world-record time (1:51.51)
halfway through the race before slowing down a bit in the final 100 meters.
"That
means the most tonight," Phelps said, per Nicole Auerbach ofUSA Today.
"With everything that's happened, being able to come back, that's probably
harder than any swim I've had in my life."
Phelps
already owns the
most overall medals (22) and most gold medals (18) of any Olympian in history.
He'll compete in two
more events at the U.S. trials: the 200-meter individual medley and 100-meter
butterfly. Depending on his performance in those events, in addition to his
possible inclusion on any U.S. relay teams, Phelps could add six more medals in
Rio to his already historic haul.
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