RIO DE JANEIRO -- On a night in which Michael Phelps became the first Olympic swimmer to win an event for the fourth consecutive time, a night he squashed the competition by nearly two seconds and then 37 minutes later swam the semifinals of a different race, it was perhaps the fight he had atop the medal stand that was his greatest challenge.
For all these years, Phelps has always maintained his stoic, machine-like poker face when gold is draped around his neck. Especially on a night when he still had another race. These had been the directives from U.S. coach Bob Bowman. When you hear "The Star-Spangled Banner," start stoking that fire for the next race. Maintain your focus. Thursday night that proved impossible.
As the American flag was raised to the rafters of the Olympic Aquatics Stadium, Phelps' eyes watered. He pursed his lips. He took one deep breath. Then another. And yet another, trying anything he could to swat away the waves of emotion that were coming over him. He failed.
"Every time I hear the national anthem there are so many memories going through my head now," he said. "And pretty much every time I hear it I'm in tears. I was trying to hold it back tonight and I couldn't."
Barring an unforeseen comeback, Phelps' career is down to two events. He has one more individual race -- Friday night's 100-meter butterfly -- and then the 4x100 medley relay to close out the meet Saturday. And with each step closer to the end, he pulls down shade after shade to reveal the human that has lived within this swimming robot all along.
"That's the first time he's ever done that," Bowman said of Phelps' emotion on the stand. "But that was nice to see, actually. I liked that."
If Tuesday night's win in the 200 butterfly was about redemption and regaining ownership of a race he had long felt belonged to him, Thursday night's gold in the 200 individual medley was confirmation that Phelps is not only the greatest of all time but the greatest in the water right now. At 31.
It had been billed as him vs. fellow American Ryan Lochte, the two most decorated Olympic male swimmers in history, one last time. Swimming's version of Manning vs. Brady. But on this night, as it had been the previous three Olympics and four Olympic trials, Lochte couldn't top his rival and friend. Not even close. Lochte, 32, led halfway through the race, but on the breaststroke leg -- supposedly Phelps' weakest stroke -- Phelps transformed a hundredths-of-a second deficit into a nearly half-second lead.
He then put the pedal to the floor on the final 50 meters, the freestyle leg. The final margin of victory over Japan's Kosuke Hagino? Nearly two seconds, an outcome Bowman said he never saw coming but became possible when Phelps broke his competition during the breaststroke.
"I thought they would go out fast and someone would hold on," Bowman said. "I think he surprised them a little bit."
Phelps time of 1:54.66 was the fastest in the world this year and only 0.66 seconds off Lochte's 5-year-old world record. It was yet another reminder -- as if it were needed -- of Phelps' utter dominance. Bring your shadowboxing Chad le Clos. Bring Lochte, the guy who perhaps could have been Phelps had he been born in a different era. Bring Thiago Pereira, Brazil's most popular swimmer. Have the race in the heartbeat of Brazil, with fans chanting "THIAGO! THIAGO! THIAGO!" It won't matter. Phelps will still crush them all.
And when it's over, the rest of the field will largely be left dazed and confused. On Tuesday it was le Clos, who finally spoke Thursday afternoon and called his loss to Phelps in the much-hyped 200 fly "the worst performance of my career." Later Thursday, it was Lochte, confessing, "It just wasn't good enough."
This is the ending Phelps has done everything he could to script since coming back in 2014. Burned by the bitter taste in his mouth after a relatively disappointing performance in London, he promised to do Rio the right way. It wasn't even about the medals -- he walked away from 2012 with four golds and two silvers, after all. It was about recommitting himself to swimming and falling in love with the sport all over again. And it just so happens that the reward for that unwavering, never-miss-a-practice commitment has been a nearly perfect performance in Rio.
"I feel like a kid again, and that's the difference," Phelps said. "I feel like I did when I was 18. That was the only way to get back and race at this level consistently."
There are those who surely have flipped on their television this week and basked in the red, white and blue glory that is Phelps winning gold after gold. They, like Phelps himself, are without adjectives to describe what they are watching. All they know is when he dives in the water he is as certain to touch the wall before anyone else as the sun is to rise in the East.
But lost in that perfect outcome is the work it took to get there. It wasn't always this way. When Phelps first returned to training in 2014, he lost sets to female teammates in training. He finished ninth in the 200 freestyle at a May 2014 Grand Prix meet in Charlotte, North Carolina. And just this past June in an Olympic trials tuneup meet in Austin, Texas, he finished fourth in the 200 free and second in the 100 butterfly.
"There are multiple times where I can recall I said, 'What the hell am I doing swimming again? I'm so slow. This is terrible. What's going on?'" Phelps said. "I was frustrated. But I just had to trust Bob. He hasn't let me down once, so I didn't think he'd let me down now."
Added Bowman: "It isn't because of the talent; it's the work. The work is what did it -- particularly this time around."
Work like extra sets on breaststroke, which Bowman specifically fine-tuned in the lead-up to Rio. Or work like not missing a single training session after finishing a 45-day stint at a behavioral rehabilitation center in November 2014.
Combine that with the unparalleled talent and a competitive fire that Michael Jordan himself would respect, and you're left with the greatest Olympian of all time putting on one final show for the world to see.
"The biggest thing for me so far is I've been able to finish how I wanted to," Phelps said. "I've been able to come back and accomplish things that I dreamt of. Being able to win my fourth 200 IM in a row? I don't know how to put that into words. It's been a very, very special week so far for closing out my career."