They said Michael Phelps would be in the room, all 6ft 4ins of him and 195lbs in weight, but it took a few moments to locate the man. And then there he was, no more than a few feet away, slouched as low as possible in an oversized armchair, his head nearly down on his knees.

Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time, the man who swam 17 races in 9 days, who broke four individual world records and who bagged 8 gold medals, was dead beat.