Michael Phelps won gold in the final individual of his career, and admitted emotions would take over once he ends his unprecedented career in the pool Saturday.
Phelps, who will retire after the London Olympics, claimed his 21st medal and 17th gold, with a final flourish in the 100 meter butterfly. South Africa's Chad Le Clos, who beat his idol to the 200 meter butterfly gold, and Evgeny Korotyshkin took silver after finishing in a dead heat.
"I don't want to complain that I was slower or made a bad turn or finish," the 27-year-old said. "I'm just happy the last one was a win. That's really what I wanted coming into tonight. This one was a bigger margin of victory than the last two combined. We can smile and be happy.
"To be honest, I thought it would hit me harder than it is right now," Phelps added. "I don't really, I don't know, I guess a lot of those emotions haven't really come through my brain over the last week."
Phelps will take part in his last race on Saturday, when he swims the butterfly leg in the 4x100 medley relay for the U.S. "I think once I'm done, and once tomorrow is over, I think there is going to be a lot more emotion that really comes out."
Missy Franklin, who won her third gold in the 200 meter backstroke in a world record time, paid tribute to the greatest ever swimmer. "What he's done is incredible," Franklin said of Phelps. "It's helped people kind of re-think the impossible."
Franklin, 17, is seen as U.S. swimming's next superstar and did herself no harm to living up to that tag by breaking the world mark. "I'm so happy," she said.
"I've been dreaming about this moment my whole life.
"I've been working so hard on my back stroke, it's been huge in practice, and I'm so happy I could come out here and get the results that I did.
"I dedicate every single thing I've done here to my home town. I've had so many supportive tweets and Facebook messages saying I've brought a smile to Colorado and it means the world to me."
