RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Michael Phelps claimed his 23rd gold medal. Puerto Rico won its first ever. And Jamaica sprinters earned back-to-back wins in the marquee Olympic sprinting event.
Phelps helped lift the 4x100 medley relay team to victory Saturday in what marked his last race before retiring, capping a night of extraordinary accomplishments in the 2016 Olympics.
Minutes after winning Olympic gold, Usain Bolt unlaced his now-famous gold spikes and took selfies with fans in the near-capacity stadium in Rio de Janeiro.
Then, he turned his yellow hat backward, kneeled down and gave the crowd what it really wanted: The arching “To the World Pose.”
The Jamaican superstar won the signature event in track and field Sunday night added this race to his already gleaming resume as the first person to capture three straight 100-meter titles at the Olympics.
Bolt beat American Justin Gatlin, who was greeted by the fans with raucous boos, by .08 seconds. Andre de Grasse of Canada won the bronze.
Elaine Thompson of Jamaica won the women’s 100-meter title in 10.71 seconds, ending fellow Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce’s bid to win the event for a third straight Olympics. She won the race in dominating, Usain Bolt-like fashion — and it may be a sign of things to come for Jamaica in the coming days.
Monica Puig won Puerto Rico’s first gold medal in any sport in Olympic history, upsetting Angelique Kerber in the women’s tennis singles final. Puig is ranked 34th and is the first unseeded women’s singles gold medalist since tennis returned to the Olympics in 1988.
Seeded second, Kerber won the Australian Open in January and was the runner-up at Wimbledon last month.
While competitions wrapped up in swimming and rowing, they’re just heating up in track and field, where Mo Farah of Britain recovered from a fall to defend his Olympic 10,000-meter title and American Jeff Henderson overtook Luvo Manyonga of South Africa on his last jump to win the long jump gold medal.
Phelps’ victory came just minutes after the women’s medley relay gave the United States its 1,000th Olympic gold medal in the history of the Summer Games.
If this was indeed the end, then Phelps went out in style, with 28 medals overall, having won five golds and a silver in Rio de Janeiro. He also said the London Games were his last four years ago only to change his mind.
He insists he won’t be coming out of retirement again for Tokyo in 2020.
“I’m not going four more years and I’m standing by that,” he said. “I’ve been able to do everything I’ve ever put my mind to in the sport and after 24 years in the sport, I’m happy with how things finished.”
The most decorated athlete in Olympics history says he is looking forward to having the time to devote to his son after being so tied up with training for the Rio Games.
He said Sunday that he ditched the athletes village to stay with Boomer and his fiancée, Nicole Johnson, on Saturday night. While other athletes celebrate their victories wildly, Phelps says he spent the night changing diapers. He says he wants to be there for Boomer “every step of the way.”
Other highlights from the weekend:
American Biles Wins Vault: Twisting and flipping through the air with explosive precision, Simone Biles easily captured gold in the women’s vault final Sunday. Her two-vault average of 15.966 was more than 0.7 better than silver medalist Maria Paseka of Russia and bronze medalist Giulia Steingruber of Switzerland. The margin between first and second was greater than second and eighth, a symbol of the canyon Biles created between herself and her peers.
Long-Standing Record Broken: Wayde van Niekerk has won the Olympic 400-meter title in a world-record 43.03 seconds, lowering the mark set by Michael Johnson in 1999. And the South African did it from the outside lane. Van Niekerk stormed out of the blocks and kept going, holding off 2012 Olympic champion Kirani James and 2008 winner LaShawn Merritt, who both ran season-best times to finish with silver and bronze. Johnson set the previous world record of 43.18 at Seville, Spain, in 1999.
Mustafina Ends American Dominance: Russia’s Aliya Mustafina has ended the U.S. women’s team dominance atop the podium in women’s gymnastics. Mustafina defended her Olympic title in uneven bars on Sunday, edging American Madison Kocian in a tight final. Mustafina’s score of 15.900 was just a touch better than Kocian’s score of 15.833. The difference was the difficulty of Mustafina’s routine, which was one-tenth tougher than Kocian’s brilliant set. The “Final Five” had won every gold medal available in Rio behind superstar Simone Biles. It ended when Mustafina nailed her dismount on her way to an eighth Olympic medal. Sophie Scheder of German was third. Gabby Douglas, the 2012 Olympic all-around champion, finished seventh.
Goodbye Green: After blaming algae, heat and even the number of swimmers for the green water at Maria Lenk Aquatics Center, officials now say a contractor mistakenly dumped hydrogen peroxide into the pool, causing an adverse reaction with chlorine.
Farah Tumbles, Still Wins: Not even a tumble could stop Mo Farah from defending his Olympic 10,000-meter title in a dramatic final where he worked his way back through the field, then lost and regained the lead on the last lap. Just like he did four years ago in London, the Somali-born Farah draped the British flag over his shoulders for his victory lap. The Olympic and world champion in the 5,000 and 10,000 tripped and fell to the track after tangling with another runner with 15 laps to go.
American Manuel Grabs Another Medal: Pernille Blume of Denmark held off Simone Manuel to capture gold in the 50-meter freestyle at the Rio Olympics. She touched in 24.07 seconds. Manuel, the American co-gold medalist in the 100 free, settled for silver in 24.09. Aliaksandra Herasimenia of Belarus earned the bronze in 24.11.
USA Basketball Survives Again: Klay Thompson ended an Olympic-long slump with seven 3-pointers and 30 points, and the U.S. needed almost all of them to hold off France 100-97 in basketball Sunday. It was the third straight close call for the favorites, who are looking as beatable as ever under coach Mike Krzyzewski.
Felix Sprints Into 400 Final: World champion Allyson Felix ran a season-best 49.67 to lead the qualifiers into the women’s 400-meter final. Felix is running only in the 400 after missing a chance to defend her Olympic 200-meter title by failing to make the U.S. team. She went out hard and coasted to the finish ahead of Shaunae Miller, the world championship silver medalist of Bahamas. There’ll be three Americans and two Jamaicans in Monday’s final.
Murray Makes Tennis History: Andy Murray of Britain beat Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina for his second consecutive Olympic singles gold medal. Murray’s 7-5, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 victory Sunday at the Rio Games makes him the first man or woman with two Olympic singles titles, let alone two in a row.
Iowa Native Simpson Qualifies for 1,500 Final: Webster City native Jennifer Simpson will run in the women’s 1,500-meter Final at the Rio Games following a fourth-place finish in her semifinal heat Sunday night.