The Latest: Olympic officials race to drain murky-green pool

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The Latest on the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro (all times local):

4:30 a.m.

While Olympic athletes were getting some well-deserved rest, Olympic officials are racing through the night to drain the murky green water out of a pool at the troubled Maria Lenk Aquatics Center.

The goal is to pump in nearly 1 million gallons of clean water before the synchronized swimming competition takes place Sunday — and even if everything goes right, they will finish barely four hours before it begins.

Rio Olympics spokesman Mario Andrada says the “radical measure” was necessary to ensure clear water for both judges and competitors, since synchronized swimmers spend much of their time underwater. He stressed again that the water posed no health risks.

Andrada says “we could have done better in fixing it quickly. We learned a painful lesson the hard way.”

An adjacent smaller pool will still be used for the divers, even though it remains murky. American diver Abby Johnston has dubbed it “the swamp.”

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4 a.m.

In the end, this is the way he wanted to go.

Standing atop the Olympic medal podium for the 23rd time, Michael Phelps teared up and bit his lip.

“It turned out pretty cool,” Phelps said, another gold medal around his neck. “It’s just a perfect way to finish.”

Phelps, who says he really is retiring this time, put the United States ahead to stay Saturday on the butterfly leg of the 4×100-meter medley relay, giving the most decorated athlete in Olympic history his 23rd gold medal.

To put this in perspective, no other Olympian has more than nine golds. With 28 medals in all, Phelps is 10 clear of anyone else.

“It’s not even once in a generation,” said his coach, Bob Bowman. “It might be once in 10 generations that someone like Michael Phelps comes along.”

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AP Summer Games website: http://summergames.ap.org