American superstar Michael Phelps has become the greatest Olympian of all time, winning two gold medals in the space of an hour in Beijing to take his career total to a phenomenal and unprecedented eleven on his journey to Olympic immortality.
Phelps flogged the field in the 200m butterfly final, then led the US 4x200m freestyle relay team to a comfortable victory to collect his fifth gold medal – all of them in world record time – to go with the six gold nuggets he won in Athens.
Phelps is confident of beating Mark Spitz’s record of seven golds in one Games after today’s historic feat of surpassing compatriots Spitz and Carl Lewis, as well as Soviet gymnast Larysa Latynina and Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi, who have all won a total of nine Olympic gold medals.
“From now on it’s just a downward slope. The end is close,” he said ahead of his three remaining events – the 200m individual medley, 100m butterfly and 4x100m medley relay.
Phelps said his goggles filled with water during his emphatic 200m butterfly final triumph as he clocked 1 minute 52.03 seconds, just 0.06 under the previous record he set last year.
“It just kept getting worse and worse … and I was having trouble seeing the walls to be honest. I wanted to go 1:51 or better but for the circumstances, I guess it’s not too bad,” he said.
Phelps, 23, set a blistering pace of 1 minute, 43.31 seconds in the 4x200m freestyle relay that got the Americans rolling toward a winning time of 6:58.56 to become the first team ever to break the 7-minute barrier.
“Come on! Come on!” he screamed at teammates Ryan Lochte, Ricky Berens and Peter Vanderkaay.
The previous record of 7:03.24 was set by the Americans at last year’s world championships. Russia took the silver, more than five seconds behind the Americans, while Australia won the bronze.
“He is just another person, but maybe from a different planet,” said Alexander Sukhorukov, who swam the anchor leg for the second-place Russians.
Grant Hackett rebounded from Olympic disappointment in the 400m freestyle to help guide Australia to an unlikely third place.
Hackett joined Patrick Murphy, Grant Brits and Nick Ffrost in claiming bronze in a time of 7 minutes 04.98 seconds after a bold selection gamble.
The Australians omitted 200m individual swimmers Kenrick Monk and Nic Sprenger for Brits and Ffrost, with head coach Alan Thompson describing the decision as “probably one of the hardest” he has made since becoming head coach in 2005.
“We had to go with the team that we thought would give us the best result,” he said.
“I feel great about winning the bronze medal but I don’t feel better about having to make those hard decisions.”
Anchor Ffrost staved off Italian 100m world champion Filippo Magnini under immense pressure.
“Coming into the team as seventh (fastest from trials) I felt a little unworthy,” said Ffrost.
“But we now feel we’ve earned our place. We definitely feel worthy.
“To be part of this and to win a bronze medal at the Olympics is a dream come true.”
It was Australia’s third relay bronze medal of the meet – after the men’s and women’s 4x100m freestyle efforts – and kept alive the Dolphins’ goal of medaling in each of the six relays in Beijing.
“Bronze is the new gold,” added Brits.
Factfile on US swimmer Michael Phelps, who Wednesday became the most successful Olympian of all time with his 10th and 11th career gold medals:
Michael Phelps
Nationality: USA
Date of birth: 30/06/1985
Place of birth: Baltimore
Height: 1.92 m
Weight: 88 kg
Sport/discipline: Swimming/freestyle, butterfly, individual medley
Contesting eight events at the 2008 Games
Honors:
Olympic Games
200 m freestyle: 1st (2008), 3rd (2004)
100 m butterfly: 1st (2004)
200 m butterfly: 1st (2004, 2008)
200 m individual medley: 1st (2004)
400 m individual medley: 1st (2004, 2008)
4×100 m freestyle relay: 1st (2008), 3rd (2004)
4×100 m medley relay: 1st (2004) – (swam in heats)
4×200 m freestyle relay: 1st (2004, 2008)
World championships
200 m freestyle: 1st (2005, 2007)
100 m butterfly: 1st (2007), 2nd (2003, 2005)
200 m butterfly: 1st (2001, 2003, 2007)
200 m individual medley: 1st (2003, 2005, 2007)
400 m individual medley: 1st (2003, 2007)
4×100 m freestyle relay: 1st (2005, 2007)
4×200 m freestyle relay: 1st (2005, 2007), 2nd (2003)
Individual World records (long course)
200 m freestyle: 1:42.96 (12/08/08)
200 m butterfly: 1 min 52 sec 03 (13/08/08)
200 m individual medley: 1 min 54 sec 80 (04/07/08)
400 m individual medley: 4 min 03 sec 84 (10/08/08)
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Photo by Vironevaeh
sheek
Guest
To expand on James comments, it is easier to win medals across a spread of sports in swimming than say athletics. Mens gymnastics is the only other sport in which so many medals (8) can be won - team allround, individual allround, floor exercises, rings, vault, pommel horse, parallel bars, horizontal bars. While winning the individual events mightn't be as difficult as say mens decathlon or womens heptathlon, in gymnastcis each athlete still finds they are superior in some apparatus & weaker (comparatively speaking) in other apparatus. Phelps has the opportunity to win 16 gold medals at just two Olympics. The max available to him now will be 14. Even if Carl Lewis had competed in every event available to him, it would have taken him 4 Olympics to compete in 16 events. As it was, Lewis competed in 11 events over 4 Olympics. 1984 - 100m(G), 200m(G), long jump(G), 4x100m relay(G); 1988 - 100m(G), 200m(S), long jump(G), 4x100m relay(DQ); 1992 - long jump(G), 4x100m relay(G); 1996 - long jump(G). The difference for an athlete over 100m, 200m & 400m is far greater than for a swimmer over the same spread. Many are good at both 100 & 200m, & fewer at 200 & 400m. But rarely (outside of school), at all 3. Some progress over a decade from 100 to 400m. But not all 3 simultaneously. Also, while speed is crucial to an athlete for the long jump & triple jump, the transition is far greater than for a swimmer changing from freestyle to butterfly to breaststroke to backstroke. If the swimmer still has the speed & strength over 100, 200, 400m, then the adjustment to stroke is relatively minor (comparatively speaking). On the other hand, while some track runners do well at long jump & triple jump, technique is still crucial to these events. There are athletes who mightn't necessarily have great foot speed, but are otherwise great technicians. One obvious thing about Phelps is this. He can consume a far greater workload than most other swimmers, & still perform at his peak. I find that particularly awesome. Thorpe for example, was inclined to 'nurse' himself through a meet. Phelps is full throttle at every event. I agree with James that we need to be careful of distinguishing between "greatest "& "most prolific". But it's acadmeic, the media is already losing it's collective head!
JohnB
Guest
Jameswm, the other parts of that argument are, first, that there are not 4 style of running - it is all essentially freestyle. Sure, there are hurdles events, but there are no technical restrictions on how you run or hurdle; and yes there are walking events but there is never a cross-over between the running and walking so they are essentially different sports). The second is that the ability to win multiple events in swimming suggests the events are not sufficiently different from each other to be testing different abilities. In athletics I believe no-one has won 100/200/400 in the same games - 100/200 and 200/400, yes, but not all 3. The 50m has perhaps not been in long enough for someone to have won 50/100/200 (and I could well be wrong there - I haven't checked that), but it is not definitely not inconceivable that someone could. For that matter 50/100/200/400 is not beyond the realms of possibility.
Jameswm
Guest
I can't see how he's the greatests Olympian. He's won the most golds, sure, but the greatest Olympian? Most prolific might be better. But there's another perspective and I'll make a broad statement here - it's easier to win medals in swimming. Here's 3 reasons why: 1. firstly in comparison to athletics, not all the world takes swimming seriously, whereas by contrast, every kid runs in running races. You could have great swimmers out there who have never jumped in a pool, but there would be no great runners who have never shown how fast they are in a race. Running is the most highly contested sport in the world because it's the only one where everyone in the world does it; 2. more opportunity for multiple medals. For starters, 3 of Phelps's gold medals will be in relays. Legendary distance runners like Paavo Nurmiu had to win all their medals themselves, as there is no 4x5km relay. In swimming it is comparitively easy for swimmers to swap between events. Libby Trickett excels in freestyle and butterfly, Phelps in butterfly, freestyle and medley. But can you imagine a long jumper also doing the pole vault? Or a decathlete also doing the 400? The best you can do in athletics is have a couple of speed based events (like long jump and 100m), or 2 next to each other in distance (800/1500 or 100/200). Because of the scheduling, rowers can only compete for one or two medals. I'd put winning the 5km, 10km and marathon at the same Olympics above what Phelps looks like achieving (8 in the pool); 3. so many medals are on offer in swimming. 16 for men and women, compared to 1 for say hockey or water polo. You have to compare apples with apples. Is Pehlps a freak? Exceptional? No argument there. But can we get the titles right? Greatest Olynmpic swimmer - maybe. Most prolific swimmer and medallist? Undoubtedly. But greatest Olympian? That's something to be debated, and we all love doing that.