Michael Phelps Photos: Most-Decorated Olympian of All Time

by NowPublic Staff | July 31, 2012 at 01:56 pm

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Michael Phelps Wins 19th Olympic Medal (Spoilers for NBC Viewers)

NBC is pretending that this hasn't happened yet, but swimmer Michael Phelps has become the most decorated Olympic athlete of all time. Michael Phelps, along with Ryan Lochte, Conor Dwyer, and Ricky Berens, won a Gold Medal for the Men's 4x200 Freestyle Relay, and swam into history.

France came in for the Silver, while China took the Bronze. While no records were set in the race itself, for Michael Phelps the win was historic indeed.

So, between Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, and London 2012, Michael Phelps has won:

15 Gold Medals
2 Bronze Medals
2 Silver Medals

Below you can see photos of Michael Phelps as he wins that historic 19th medal. Phelps takes over from Larisa Latynina, a gymnast who won 18 medals for the Soviet Union in the 1956, 1960, and 1964 Olympics. Latynina wanted to be the one to present Phelps with Medal #19, but apparently Olympic-caliber red tape got in the way.

One of the photos below shows Michael Phelps in the 200m Butterfly finals, in which he was out-touched by South Africa's Chad le Clos. Phelps still walked away with Medal #18, a Silver.