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ing on the Curlin bandwagon. H
in Introduce Yourself As A Pony! Wed Nov 06, 2019 2:00 pmby dasg234 • 815 Posts
RIO DE JANEIRO -- Standing atop the medal podium for the 23rd time, Michael Phelps teared up, bit his lip and gave a little nod.This was how he really wanted to go out.On top of his game in the water.Totally content away from the pool.It turned out pretty cool, Phelps said, another gold medal around his neck. Its just a perfect way to finish.Phelps put the United States ahead to stay on the butterfly leg of the 4x100-meter medley relay, giving the most decorated athlete in Olympic history his 23rd career gold medal Saturday night.If that was the end, and Phelps insists it is, the numbers are simply astonishing.No other Olympian has more than nine gold medals.With 28 medals in all, hes 10 clear of anyone else.Its not even once in a generation, said his coach, Bob Bowman. It might be once in 10 generations that someone like Michael Phelps comes along. As Nathan Adrian touched the wall to finish off the victory, Phelps gathered the other relay swimmers, Ryan Murphy and Cody Miller, in his arms. One night after his only setback of the games, an upset loss to Joseph Schooling in the 100 fly, Phelps was back on top.At age 31, he leaves Rio with five golds and a silver.I wouldnt change anything, he said. This is the best place Ive ever been in my life.In the stands, his fiancee, Nicole Johnson, bounced along to the music with their son, 3-month-old Boomer, cradled in her arms.Phelps is eager to spend a lot more time with them. He plans to marry Johnson after the Olympics and said he wants to watch his son grow, maybe even dole out a swimming lesson or two.And what if Boomer wants to take all those medals to show-and-tell someday?I might let him take one, Phelps said with a grin.Maybe a bronze, Bowman chimed in.Most of the U.S. swim team was in the stands to watch Phelps finale, including the biggest female star at the pool, Katie Ledecky.The 19-year-old Ledecky joked that she was proud to be part of Phelps final Olympics -- twice. He initially retired after the 2012 London Olympics, only to decide about a year later to return.The comeback endured a huge setback with his second drunken-driving arrest in 2014, which led to Phelps being banned from the world championships last year. But it also sparked a turnaround in his personal life. He entered six weeks of inpatient therapy, where he got in touch with some of the issues that seemed to lead him astray.He quit drinking, reconnected with his estranged father, got engaged, moved to Arizona along with Bowman, and became a father for the first time.Phelps sounds much more adamant when he says his swimming career really is over.These games really showed his growth, teammate Anthony Ervin said. That human spirit, that capacity to heal. I think it showed in his swimming, it showed in his demeanor, and it certainly showed in his leadership on the team.Phelps was elected a team captain for the first time in his fifth Olympics and truly seemed to enjoy being around his fellow swimmers. He was still the same ruthless competitor, but he was also willing to join in when some of his younger teammates made a carpool karaoke video at their final training camp in Atlanta.Took a starring role, in fact.Being Michael requires such isolation, Ervin said. Other people respect that. They give him that space because he is the greatest. But this time around he started reaching out, reaching out to other people, bringing them closer, letting that gap be bridged. That was special.On a victory stroll around the pool, Phelps and his teammates grabbed a sign that said, Thank You Rio.No matter what country you swim for, youre indebted to Michael Phelps for bringing a lot of exposure to the sport and making it a little more mainstream, Murphy said. If this is the end that was a great way to cap off an incredible career.Murphy, who won two backstroke golds in Rio, put the Americans out front with a world-record split -- it counts since he was leading off -- before Britain surged ahead on the breaststroke with its own world-record holder, Adam Peaty.Phelps dove into the pool in second place.He wouldnt be for long.On the return lap, Phelps powered through the water with his windmill of a stroke, surging ahead of James Guy to pass off a lead to the anchor Adrian.It wasnt in doubt after that. Adrian pulled away on the freestyle to win in an Olympic-record time of 3 minutes, 27.95 seconds. Britain held on for silver, with Australia nabbing bronze.The victory came just minutes after the womens medley relay gave the United States its 1,000th Olympic gold medal at the Summer Games.A thousandth gold for team USA, said Simone Manuel, who swam the anchor leg for her second gold of the games and second medal of the night. Its a nice number.Kathleen Baker, Lilly King and Dana Vollmer joined Manuel in the historic victory, which came with a time of 3:53.13. Australia earned silver, while Denmark took bronze.Earlier in the night, Manuel took silver in the 50 free. She already became the first African-American woman to win an Olympic swimming title with her win in the 100 free.Connor Jaeger gave the U.S. another silver in the 1,500 free, leaving the American with 33 swimming medals in Rio -- matching the highest total since they captured 34 against a depleted field at the boycotted Los Angeles Games of 1984.The U.S. also won 33 medals at Sydney in 2000.The final two individual golds of the games went to Pernille Blume of Denmark in the 50 free, her countrys first swimming victory since 1948, and Italys Gregorio Paltrinieri in the grueling 1,500 free.The night, though, belonged to Phelps, who walked out of the arena for the final time carrying an American flag handed to him by his mother from her front-row seat, right next to Johnson and little Boomer.With a gold medal around his neck.The only way imaginable.---Follow Paul Newberry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963 . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/paul-newberry .Air Max 97 Shanghai Kaleidoscope . PETERSBURG, Fla. Air Max 97 Undefeated China . Didier Drogba gave away the penalty that put Senegal one goal away from a major upset, but the veteran striker will get another chance -- probably his last -- at the World Cup after Salomon Kalous injury-time strike sealed the Ivorians place in Brazil next year. http://www.outletairmax97.com/air-max-97-shanghai.html . Soukalova missed only one target and completed the 15-kilometre course in 40 minutes, 32.6 seconds for both victories in this seasons individual discipline. Darya Domracheva of Belarus was second, 34. Nike Air Max 97 Just Do It Black . John Lucas, signed as a mentor for rookie Trey Burke, showed he can score if required, scoring 12 points of his 16 points in the second quarter as Utah built an 18-point lead. Air Max 97 Fake For Sale . -- Golden State Warriors coach Mark Jackson asked his players a simple question during Fridays morning shootaround: How many of them had ever been on a team 14 games over .This is the story of two retirements, one coming at the end of a rich, deeply satisfying career, the other not so much.Unusual Heat, 26, has been pensioned, ending a 19-year stallion career that never ceased to amaze. Year after year, the Unusual Heats would come rolling down the line, winning races large and small in such numbers as to impress even the most casual students of the game.Do not look for the name of Unusual Heat to be whispered in the mists of Kentuckys breeding lore, however. Although he was bred in the bluegrass, Unusual Heat did his stallion deeds in California, and Californias bloodstock history is viewed more with curious condescension than respect, despite the accomplishments of Hall of Famers and champions like Swaps, Tiznow, Native Diver, Tiznow, Ancient Title, Best Pal, and Bertrando.Scores of Unusual Heats have run riot through the regional stakes races offered by a generous California program. But more than that, his best horses were very good wherever they ran. Acclamation was the Eclipse Award champion older male of 2011. The Usual Q. T. was a Grade 1 winner who almost took a Breeders Cup Mile. Tucked Away, Lethal Heat, Unusual Suspect, Burns, Gervinho, Bettys Bambino, Golden Doc A, Pretty Unusual, Lennyfromalibu -- none of them needed the shelter of a California-bred stakes race to bring home a major prize.Unusual Heat is a son of Nureyev who was first trained in Ireland by Dermot Weld and then migrated to California, where he joined the Richard Mandella stable. Barry Abrams claimed him as a 6-year-old for $80,000 for a partnership that included the trainer, his brother David Abrams, and breeder Madeline Auerbach. Not long after that, Unusual Heat was retired with a bowed tendon.I claimed him hoping to get a few races out of him and then to be a stallion, Barry Abrams said. I didnt know much about it then, but I did know that Nureyev was a great stallion.Unusual Heats first foals hit the ground in 1999.The biggest thing he gave them was longevity, Abrams said. Theyd win first time out as 2-year-olds and still be around four, five, six years later. And the more they ran, the better they got. They may have been running as a $20,000 maiden as a 3-year-old, then as a 4-year-old, theyd be an allowance or a stakes horse.Abrams was right. A scan of Unusual Heats progeny reveals hard knockers like Tropical Heat (86 starts), Steamy Story (78 starts), Raise the Heat (74 starts), and at least 30 others with 40 or more starts.Exaggerator, a 3-year-old son of Curlin, made 15 starts. He also earned $3.5 million, which makes him a very efficientt moneymaking machine, and by some measures, that is the point of the exercise.ddddddddddddNow he has been retired, happy and healthy, to WinStar Farm in Kentucky to begin a stallion career next year before hes even a fully matured Thoroughbred.Racing fans are rightfully miffed at yet another example of the breeding tail wagging the racing dog. Exaggerators quality as a Thoroughbred athlete was borne out by victories in the 2016 Santa Anita Derby, Preakness, and Haskell Invitational and a second-place finish in the Kentucky Derby. His record was an odd mix of rousing scores on rainy afternoons combined with somnolent wanderings through important engagements in the Belmont, Travers, and, finally, the Pennsylvania Derby.The horse owed us nothing, said trainer Keith Desormeaux, who also owned a minority interest in Exaggerator. But for him to get beat in his last two races was disappointing. I wanted him to go out on a higher note.WinStar bought into Exaggerator before the Kentucky Derby and was along for the Preakness and Haskell rides, but the farms real payoff always figured to be after retirement.My judgment in this matter is secondary to the business of promoting and putting a stallion out there, Desormeaux said. It was a marketing thing, jumping on the Curlin bandwagon. Hes as hot as they come, and theres not many sons of Curlin out there yet.No one should begrudge an ownership group for taking money out of the business after putting money in. Still, the retirement of a reportedly sound classic winner before his fourth birthday goes contrary to racings uphill battle to nurture its stars. Exaggerators fans spent most of their time praying for rain and yet longing for the day when he would unleash a grand moment on a dry track.A horse like that doesnt leave the barn without some degree of sadness, Desormeaux said. The good ones are hard to come by.So, the pages are turned, again. There will be no Exaggerator in the Breeders Cup Classic for the Desormeaux stable, but it has high hopes for Miss Southern Miss, the winner of the Surfer Girl Stakes at Santa Anita last Monday. She will run in the Breeders Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.As for Unusual Heat, Barry Abrams predicts the old boy will be one of the best broodmare sires around, and he might be onto something. On the same afternoon as the Surfer Girl, Big Score, out of the Unusual Heat mare Not Unusual, won the Zuma Beach Stakes to set himself up for the Breeders Cup Juvenile Turf. ' ' '
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