Thirteen Olympic gold medals is a ton, but it may not sound like a lot for a 4-time Olympian like Michael Phelps who has competed in so many races.
The news had already been running around the Internet prior to Michael Phelps’ win, as statistician Bill Mallon pulled it out of the record books when Michael Phelps tied the record in terms of individual wins earlier during the Rio games.
Of course, the modern-day Olympic games didn’t start until 1896, so there’s a good chunk of time when Olympic records were not recorded, for obvious reasons.
After winning his 13th individual gold medal on Thursday, a medal that was also his fourth in the row at these games, Michael Phelps told NBC that it was actually tough to keep it together when he was being handed his medal.