The United States hasn't lost the medley relay event since 1980, and that didn't change on Saturday at the 2012 London Olympics. The U.S. took the gold medal with a time of 3:29:35, a full 1.91 seconds over Japan in second place with a time of 3:31.26 and 2.23 seconds over Australia, which took bronze with a time of 3:31.58.
Matt Grevers started out the U.S. in the backstroke and the Americans had a slim lead after his efforts. Brendan Hansen faltered in the breaststroke and the U.S. fell slightly behind -- a 0.21-second deficit. In comes the University of Michigan's Michael Phelps for the butterfly. Phelps turned the 0.21-second deficit into a 0.26-second lead heading into the final 100 meters, where Nathan Adrian took over. Adrian smoked the competition in freestyle and the U.S. got the win.
This means that Phelps has won his 18th gold medal, with 22 medals overall. He's got twice as many gold medals as any other Olympian ever, and his swimming career might be at an end. There's no official announcement, but if Phelps sticks to his word and everything we've heard lately is true, then he could be retired as the best Olympian of all time.
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