Phelps bows out with 18th Olympic gold

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All eyes were on Michael Phelps as he brought to an end a career with his 18th Olympic gold medal as the United States won the 4x100 metres medley relay.

The 27-year-old now has 22 medals - 18 gold, two silver and two bronze - over four Olympics, his Games career starting in Sydney 12 years ago when he was fifth in the 200m butterfly.
Six golds and two bronze medals in Athens was followed by his historic eight gold medals in Beijing four years later.
When he was introduced before the final race of his career, his composure appeared to slip slightly.
Matt Grevers started for the U.S. in backstroke and gave the Americans a slim 0.43-second lead over Japan after the first 100 meters, turning it over to Brendan Hansen for the breaststroke. Hansen was passed by Kosuke Kitajima, meaning Phelps would have some work to do.
Phelps took to the water for the third leg, butterfly, with a 0.21-second gap to make up -- he wasted little time in making up that deficit, passing Takeshi Matsuda on the turn and giving the Americans a 0.26-lead heading int the final 100 meters.
The fourth and final leg, freestyle, was swam by Nathan Adrian, the 100m freestyle champion at London, and he absolutely blew away the field, swimming an astonishing 46.85 split. By the time he made the turn, the race was no longer a race, but rather just a question of by how much the U.S. would win (the answer was 1.91 seconds).
Britain put up a brave fight but they were edged out of the medals in 3mins 32.32secs.