Michael Phelps swam the last individual race of his Olympic career on Friday in London, and finished in typical Phelpsian fashion: with a gold medal. The record-breaking swimmer won the 100 meter butterfly, scoring his 17th gold and 21st overall medal. Just like his nail-biting 100m butterfly swims in Beijing and Athens, it was a dramatic victory. He was next to last at the turn, but put up a furiously fast second 50 meters to beat out South Africa’s Chad le Clos and Russia’s Evgeny Korotyshkin, who tied for silver. Phelps’s final Olympic swim will be as a member of Saturday’s 4x100 medley relay team. Meanwhile, American Missy Franklin set a world record in the 200 meter backstroke and won her third gold medal of the games.
