Michael Phelps believes his final Olympic Games could not have gone any better and, in fact, included one of the best races of his life.
Comfortably the most decorated Olympian is history, Phelps took his record-breaking tally of medals to 28 at Rio 2016 — including 23 golds — by topping the podium on five occasions and taking silver in the 100-meter butterfly.
MORE: Classic photos of Michael Phelps | Full medal count
The 31-year-old American picked out his victory in the 200M butterfly, which saw him edge Japan's Masato Sakai by four hundredths of a second, as the highlight of his fifth Games.
"One of the biggest things I really wanted back was the 200-meter fly victory back," said Phelps, who was beaten in that event by Chad Le Clos at London 2012.
"I wanted that gold medal to retire with. I had been in five Olympics in that race, and I wanted to finish on top.
"I can look at that race and say it was one of the best races of my life.
"But also spending time with the team. We had such a young team coming in with 37 rookies, so being able to get to know them and help them, being elected a captain for the first time ever and carrying the flag, I literally don't think anything could have gone any better through these Olympics and it's a true dream come true.
"If you would ask me if these results would have been good a year ago or two years ago, then I would have said yes.
"Being able to win five more Olympic gold medals and one more silver medal ... there's no better way to finish a career."