American swimmer Michael Phelps became the greatest, most decorated athlete in the history of the Olympics yesterday by winning his 19th medal. He took a very close silver in the 200 meter butterfly and then pulled himself together enough to win a gold medal in the 4 by 200 meter freestyle relay.
That puts him ahead of the previous medal count record holder Larisa Latynina, a Russian Soviet gymnast from the 50's and 60's. The 27 year old US athlete previously won 8 medals in the 2004 games in Athens and then scooped up a record 8 gold medals in the Beijing games.
He has not had a fantastic start to the 2012 games -- missing a medal in the 400 meter medley and taking second in the 4 by 100 freestyle relay -- but that really doesn't matter now. He now has a total of 19 Olympic medals, nearly all golds with a few silvers thrown in.
That makes Michael Phelps, officially, the greatest Olympian in history!
Learn some mo': It's beyond dispute: Phelps is the greatest Olympian of all time
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