RIO DE JANEIRO--Michael Phelps made all the difference as he won the 19th Olympic gold medal of his astonishing career on Sunday and helped the U.S. men's team to victory in the 4x100 metres freestyle relay.
The 31-year-old, raising a roar from the crowd on his first competitive appearance at his fifth Games after sitting out the heats, now has an unprecedented 23 medals with two silvers and two bronzes filling out his tally.
London 2012 champions France took the silver medal, their third successive podium in the 4x100, and Australia the bronze.
With baby son Boomer in the audience for the first time at an Olympics, Phelps swam the second leg of a race that has brought him four of his medals over the years including gold in Beijing in 2008. If anyone is used to the atmosphere and the pressure, it is Phelps but even he -- 16 years on from his Olympic debut -- felt the sense of occasion.
"On the block I thought my heart was going to explode, I was so hyped, so excited," he said. "It was so loud, I don't think I've ever heard something like that."
The most decorated Olympian of all time has now won gold at four separate Games, the first swimmer to do so. The U.S. team set a world record of three minutes, 8.24 seconds in the Beijing final, a race in the bodysuit-era that still stands and is likely to endure for some time to come. On Sunday they came closer than anyone has ever done wearing textile suits, when the quartet of Caeleb Dressel, Phelps, Ryan Held and 100 freestyle world champion Nathan Adrian clocked 3:09.92.
Dressel completed his opening leg just two hundredths behind the French in 48.10 and Phelps made the difference, taking the lead off a strong turn and clocking out at 47.12 with Held putting in a 47.73 and Adrian fastest of all in 46.97.
As he has done so many times in the past, Phelps kissed the medal on the podium and waved at the crowd with tears in his eyes and a supportive arm for an emotional Held and Dressel who were collecting the first Olympic medals of their careers. "I told them, it's OK to cry. It's good to see some emotion as one of the old dudes," said Phelps.
The victory maintained a run of U.S. success in the event, with the Americans medalling in every 4x100 freestyle relay raced at the Games since it was first included in 1964. It also meant the United States ended the second day of the meet with two golds, level with Australia who won wo on Saturday.
Hungary's Katinka Hosszu ended her long wait for Olympic victory and Australia captured two gold medals in an exhilarating first day of swimming competition that saw three world records smashed in Rio on Saturday. Hosszu, five times a world champion but without a medal from three previous Olympics, demolished the world record by 2.07 seconds in the final of the women's 400 metres individual medley.
Australia's women retained their Olympic title by winning the 4x100m freestyle relay in world record time, with sisters Bronte and Cate Campbell swimming the last two stages to overhaul the United States, despite the efforts of Katie Ledecky on the anchor leg. Mack Horton's victory in the men's 400 freestyle also meant Australia had already doubled their gold medal tally from a disappointing showing four years ago.
Adam Peaty smashed his own world record for the second time in two days on Sunday to win 100 metres breaststroke gold and become the first British male swimmer in 28 years to win an Olympic title. The 21-year-old world champion, who clocked 57.55 seconds in Saturday's heats, sliced another hefty chunk off his mark to finish in 57.13 and open his country's medal account at the Games.
