It's no exaggeration to call Michael Phelps the greatest Olympic swimmer of all time, and the superstar finished out his extraordinary career on August 4 by helping Team USA to earn the gold medal in the sport's final race of the London Games, the men's 4x100 medley relay.

Matt Grevers, the 100m backstroke silver medalist at the 2012 Games, kicked off the race for Team USA. By the turn, he held a lead over second place candidate Lazslo Cseh of Hungary. He handed the baton to teammate Brendan Hansen, who followed with the breaststroke. Hansen ran a tight swim with personal rival Kosuke Kitajima of Japan, and it was Kitajima who hit the wall first to start leg three.

But Phelps followed for the USA, and his powerful butterfly stroke propelled him into the lead after the turn. Nathan Adrian completed the victory for Team USA, touching the wall ahead of second place Japan and third place Australia with a time of 3:29.35.

The win gives Phelps his 22nd Olympic medal overall. Eighteen of those are gold. And it closes out a career that's been truly spectacular.

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