Olympic Swimming

The stupide, arrogant French swimmers said they were going to SMASH Michael Phelps and the USA 4X100 Medley Relay team.

NOT!!
GUESS AGAIN FROGGIES!!

FRANCE SUCKS

The best way to deal with arrogant, loud-mouthed Frenchmen....

"KICK THEIR FRENCH ASS"!!!!!

What a race! Phelps is 6 golds away. This and the 200m free are the only 2 events he didn't win in Athens.
That race was so fast the 5 of the 8 teams broke the world record which the Americans had set the previous day. The Americans shattered the record by 3.99 seconds.

GO MICHAEL

catbox_9 wrote:

What a race! Phelps is 6 golds away. This and the 200m free are the only 2 events he didn't win in Athens.
That race was so fast the 5 of the 8 teams broke the world record which the Americans had set the previous day. The Americans shattered the record by 3.99 seconds.

I could watch this when i got up this morning! Wow, that was a hell of a race! Jason Lezak just was not human!

Phelps took home another gold today

GO MICHAEL

MICHAEL ROSENBERG
Michael Phelps: 3 events, 3 world records, 3 golds

August 12, 2008

BEIJING -- For a guy who keeps ending up in the same place, Michael Phelps is finding all sorts of ways to get there.


Phelps has gone gold, gold, gold in his first three events here. But his Olympics have been anything but monotonous. Were the Beatles' gold records all the same? Are all gold necklaces the same? Are Rold Gold pretzels all the same? OK, I guess the pretzels basically are.

When Phelps won the 400 individual medley for his first gold of these Olympics, he was too emotional to sing the national anthem on the medal stand. Something about his journey -- from a broken wrist last year through the wind tunnel of expectations -- got to him.

When his team won the 400 freestyle relay for gold No. 2, Phelps was exultant. Like anybody else watching the race, he could not believe Jason Lezak's closing burst.

His latest gold, in the 200 freestyle, was all business. It was almost cold-blooded. After diving in, Phelps stayed underwater so much longer than anybody else (one of the big keys to his dominance) that by the time he emerged, the race seemed over.

When the inevitable had happened -- another gold, another world record (1:42.96) -- Phelps looked up and ... breathed. He looked like he had won his heat at the U.S. trials, instead of gold in the Olympics. He is not a sure bet to win seven golds, let alone eight. But the 200 free was a sure thing.

With the swimming finals held in the morning here, so NBC can show them live in the States, Phelps is like that old U.S. Army commercial -- he wins more gold before 11 a.m. than most people do their whole lives. He won gold Sunday morning, Monday morning and this morning. He just tied the Carl Lewis, Mark Spitz and two others for the most career gold medals in Olympic history.

And what have you done this week?

"I can't ask for anything else so far," Phelps said, which is nice, because if he wanted four golds in three events, that would just be greedy.

Phelps used the words "so far" three times in one answer today. To get a true feel for what Phelps has accomplished, check out this comment afterward: "It's an amazing feeling."

Phelps didn't say that. Peter Vanderkaay did. Vanderkaay, a Michigan grad and fellow Club Wolverine swimmer, won the bronze. Earlier in the meet, Vanderkaay finished fourth in the 400 free, so he was relieved to look up after he hit the wall and see he had climbed another step on the ladder, onto the podium.

"I was pretty sure I was in medal contention," Vanderkaay said. "I couldn't see too far to the right coming home. But I did my best anyway, so it wouldn't have mattered."

They are all doing their best; Phelps's best is just better. Phelps has been the story of the Olympics, but we all knew that coming in. The amazing thing is that he has been a better story than he was supposed to be. He has outraced his hype, with an assist from Lezak.

When he returned to the pool for the medal ceremony, Phelps gave his sister Hillary his flowers. She wiped tears off her face.

Michael? He had to get back to business.

"I'm not even halfway done yet," he said. "The most important races are really what's coming up."

Wednesday morning (Tuesday night in Detroit) should bring yet another twist on Phelps's dominance: a chance at two golds, in the 200 butterfly and 800 freestyle relay.

The 200 fly is possibly Phelps's best race. If he doesn't set a world record, it would be surprising. Mull that over for a moment: If he doesn't do this better than anybody ever has, it would be surprising.

Maybe it's wrong to expect a world record. Maybe it's wrong to expect two golds. But if we've learned anything this week, it's this: Michael Phelps is a morning person.

Phelps' path to glory

GOLD
400 individual medley
GOLD
400 freestyle relay
GOLD
200 freestyle
GOLD
200 butterfly
GOLD
800 freestyle relay
GOLD
200 individual medley
GOLD
100 butterfly
GOLD
400 medley relay

Most Olympic Golds

14 -- Michael Phelps, United States, swimming (2004-6;2008-3)
9 -- Paavo Nurmi, Finland, track and field (1920-3;1924-4 1928-2)
9 -- Larysa Latynina, Soviet Union, gymnastics (1956-4;1960-3 1964-2)
9 -- Mark Spitz, United States, swimming (1968-2;1972-7)
9 -- Carl Lewis, United States, track and field (1984-4;1988-2 1992-2;1996-1)

GoGetEmTigers wrote:

Most Olympic Golds


9 -- Paavo Nurmi, Finland, track and field (1920-3;1924-4 1928-2)
9 -- Larysa Latynina, Soviet Union, gymnastics (1956-4;1960-3 1964-2)
9 -- Mark Spitz, United States, swimming (1968-2;1972-7)
9 -- Carl Lewis, United States, track and field (1984-4;1988-2 1992-2;1996-1)
9 -- Michael Phelps, United States, swimming (2004-6;2008-3)

I've got a funny feeling that tie won't last long :haha:

GO MICHAEL

Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Phelps wins two more golds
John Niyo / The Detroit News

BEIJING -- Bob Bowman knows his horses.

He has a stable full of them back home at the Laurel Park race track in Maryland, where the former University of Michigan coach is headed for good after the Beijing Olympics. One of his favorite chores there isn't mucking the barn, though: It's naming the racehorses.

And Bowman, who spent the last four years coaching the U-M men and Club Wolverine elite swimmers in Ann Arbor, was asked recently why he hasn't named one of them after Michael Phelps.

"Well, it's a lot of pressure to put on a horse," laughed Bowman, who does have one named Going For Gold. "And I'm saving (the Phelps name) for one that bites me or something. I have this one named Vanderkaay and he's really nice, does we everything we ask of him "

At which point, Phelps interrupted his longtime coach, asking sarcastically, "I don't do that?

"Sometimes," Bowman replied, rolling his eyes.

But this, clearly, is one of those times. And as Phelps' remarkable quest for Olympic immortality becomes something more resembling a coronation here at the National Aquatic Center in Beijing, it's clear Bowman's thoroughbreds -- both the unbridled Phelps and the well-mannered Peter Vanderkaay -- are in peak racing form.

Phelps added two more gold medals to his record-setting medal haul in Beijing, pressured to the wall in the men's 200-meter butterfly, and later teamed up with Vanderkaay, a Rochester native, for another golden group hug on the pool deck after the 4x200 freestyle relay team.

For Phelps, that's five gold medals and five world records in five events -- and an Olympic-record 11 gold medals for his career now -- as he chases Mark Spitz's record of seven golds at a single Games set in 1972.

For Vanderkaay, it's his second medal in as many days here at the bubble-wrapped Water Cube venue, where the 24-year-old claimed an individual bronze in the 200 freestyle on Tuesday.

Club Wolverine teammate Erik Vendt also heads home -- and likely back into retirement -- with a gold medal. Vendt, 23, swam in the preliminary heat for the U.S. relay team Tuesday night before giving way to the 'A' team for the final.

The lone holdover from the prelims wasn't former Club Wolverine swimmer, Klete Keller, who anchored the dramatic U.S. gold-medal triumph over Australia at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Instead, it was Olympic rookie Ricky Berens of Charlotte, N.C., in the final, with Vanderkaay taking over the anchor duties.

And it was Vanderkaay who brought home the gold, with his parents, Mark and Robin, and three swimming siblings -- Christian, Alex and Dane -- cheering from the stands in their bright, red-white-and-blue "PVK" t-shirts.

This time, there was little suspense as Vanderkaay jumped in for the final 200 with a four body-length lead and cruised home in a time of 6 minutes, 58.46 seconds.

The previous world record, set by the American at last year's world championships, was 7:03.24.

The second place Russians were a distant second Wednesday in 7:03.70.

Earlier, it was Phelps doing what only he can do anymore: Beat Michael Phelps.

Pushed harder than he has been pushed in years in his best event, Phelps won the 200 fly in 1:52.03, pulling away from Hungarian rival Laszlo Cseh in the final 50 meters.

Cseh, whose previous best was 1:54.35, finished in 1:52.70 -- the fifth-fastest time in history.

Of course, the other four all belong to Phelps, who has owned the world record in that event since 2001. Wednesday, he still managed to break his old mark (1:52.09) for third time in 18 months, even though his swim goggles had come loose and filled with water.

"I couldn't see anything for the last 100," he said. "It just kept getting worse and worse through the race and I was having trouble seeing the walls, to be honest. But it's fine. I wanted to break the record. I wanted to go 1:51 or better, but for the circumstances, I guess it's not too bad."

Ho-hum, right?

Wrong, Bowman insists.

"World records aren't easy," he said. "Everybody thinks Michael makes it look easy. But they always hurt."

True, but they never hurt quite so good as this.

What an embarrassing day at the pool today. The Chinese did better than us :puke2: China sucks at swimming, how did they do better than us?

Thursday, August 14, 2008
Medal caps Canton teen's whirlwind journey
Schmitt rewarded with medal after surviving grind of camp at Club Wolverine with Phelps.
John Niyo / The Detroit News

BEIJING -- Allison Schmitt finished high school early last winter, graduating in January to devote the next six months to her training in the pool, where the 18-year-old Canton student had become a surprise contender to make the U.S. Olympic team.

She joined Club Wolverine, and immediately headed to Colorado Springs, Colo., with Michael Phelps and the rest of the gang for a brutal, three-week altitude camp. After that, they'd head to Santa Clara, Calif., for a grand prix meet.

"And (coach) Jon Urbanchek made a joke," recalled Gail Schmitt, Allison's mother, " telling her, 'You're either coming to California with us, or we're sending you home in a body bag.'"

At least she hoped it was a joke. But her daughter survived -- thrived, even -- and Thursday morning in Beijing, there she was at the National Aquatic Center, standing on the medal podium with U.S. teammates after winning a bronze medal in the women's 800-meter freestyle relay.

"Six months ago, I was just training hard, hoping and having my eyes on possibly making the Olympic team, just for this relay," said Schmitt, a three-time prep All-American who won four state individual titles as a junior and senior. "And to now be standing on the podium, with a bronze medal, it's just the most amazing feeling."

Schmitt, who just missed the individual finals in the 200 free earlier this week, swam the first leg for the Americans, and held the lead through 100 meters before fading to fourth with a 1:57.71 split. Schmitt admitted afterward she'd expended too much energy with her kick in the first 50 meters, but she also has been battling a stomach virus this week.

"I definitely left it all in the pool," said Schmitt, who'll fly home to Michigan on Monday for a short rest before heading off to college at the University of Georgia.

A strong finish by teammates Caroline Burckle and Katie Hoff secured the bronze medal behind Australia, which set a world record in 7:44.31, and China, the surprising silver medalist. The Americans (7:46.33) also came in under the previous world record (7:50.09), set by the U.S. at last year's world championships.

For Hoff it has been a frustrating Olympics, if only due to the lofty expectations. The 19-year-old swimming star from Baltimore has been off her best times and has yet to win her first gold medal, settling for one silver and two bronze medals.

Thursday, her closing split was the second-fastest in the pool, but she couldn't overtake China's Jiaying Pang in the final 50.

"I did my best and ran out of room at the end," Hoff said.

Schmitt didn't swim her best times, either, this week. But she walks away with memories to last a lifetime.

"I've made so many bonds with so many different teammates the last month," said Schmitt, whose infectious enthusiasm was the talk of USA Swimming's training camp in Palo Alto, Calif.. "And these friendships are going to last forever."

Another swimmer with local ties swam in Thursday's finals. Scott Spann, who spent the last two years competing for the University Michigan, was sixth in his first career Olympic final, the men's 200 breaststroke.

Japan's Kosuke Kitajima completed a sweep of the breaststroke events, becoming the first swimmer in history to do so at consecutive Olympics. He won the 200 in a world-record time of 2:07.84. Spann was sixth in 2:09.76.

"This is a stepping stone," said Spann, 20, who decided to transfer from Ann Arbor to Texas in April. "Ten months ago, I was third at the Pan-American Games, and that put me about 50th in the world. Nobody would've known who I was. Now I'm right in the top five."

You can reach John Niyo at John.Niyo@detnews.com

Friday, August 15, 2008
John Niyo
Uncharted waters: Another world mark brings sixth gold for Phelps

BEIJING -- We're searching for answers.

But the problem with trying to explain this Michael Phelps phenomenon, one that's swimming inexorably toward Olympic immortality, is that we've run out of questions.

Or at least any good ones.

So instead, what transpires in a standing-room-only news conference shortly after lunchtime each day here at the Water Cube -- and Friday was no different after Phelps shattered his own world record in the 200-meter individual medley to win his sixth gold medal at these Olympics -- is a circus-like game amongst the international media.

Who can come up with something new, something unexpected? In that sense, we're not unlike Phelps' competitors, who've tried to rationalize their own limitations in the face of his seemingly endless supply of energy and emotion and, in a word, eminence.

On Friday, the question was about doping: Isn't this all too good to be true?

"People can question it all they want," said Phelps, who actually is part of a voluntary program with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that subjects him to additional and more extensive drug testing. "But the facts are the facts. And I have the results to prove it."

Earlier this week, British swimmer Simon Burnett told U.S. men's coach Eddie Reese that he'd finally "figured out Michael Phelps," who is now just one golden moment away from tying Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals at a single Olympics.

"He's not from another planet," Burnett told Reese. "He's from the future."

He went on to explain an elaborate, Terminator-style screenplay he'd imagined, complete with a time machine.

"Sixty years from now, he is an average swimmer," Burnett continued. "But he has come back here to mop up."

Indeed, that might be the only logical conclusion for Phelps' would-be foils in the pool. How else do they explain the 30 world records to his credit, the 14 Olympic medals, including 12 gold, more than any athlete in history? How else do they explain his innate ability to swim faster than anyone, even himself?

Friday, Phelps' winning time of 1 minute, 54.23 seconds was more than two seconds clear of rivals Laszlo Cseh and Ryan Lochte. It marked the ninth time he'd broken the world record in the event since 2002.

"On this planet," a Korean journalist began the other day, "is there anybody who can defeat you? And if so, who is it?"

Phelps laughed, then shrugged.

"I don't know," he said.

Later, he insisted, "I'm not unbeatable. No one's unbeatable. Everyone can be beaten."

But the closest Phelps has come to stumbling was in the 200 butterfly, when his swim goggles came loose, forcing him to swim blind into the final two turns. Yet he still managed to win and break the world record previously held by a sci-fi creature named Michael Phelps.

On Friday, a mere 7 minutes after he'd stood atop the podium for another medal ceremony, Phelps was back in the pool winning his semifinal heat in the 100 butterfly.

The best race he has swum this meet is probably that 100 fly," said his coach, Bob Bowman, afterward. "He was pretty tired after that 200 IM, and there was no time."

Phelps managed barely a quarter of his typical, 1,500-meter warm-down swim after the first race, before getting hurriedly dressed in his team uniform for the medal ceremony. Afterward, he and his pal Lochte, who'd earlier won gold in the 200 backstroke, were so busy laughing and joking as they posed for photos, Phelps barely had time to get changed into a different Speedo suit and pull on his parka. In fact, when he got out on deck for the next race, he realized he'd forgotten to leave something behind.

"Yeah," Phelps said, laughing. "The medal was in the pocket of my warmup jacket."

You'll have to forgive him, though. Phelps has so many medals now it's hard to keep track of all of them.

The chase for an unprecedented eight continues today with the 100 fly final -- his last individual race -- before finishing with the 4x100 medley relay Sunday morning in Beijing. And if there's a race he could lose, it's this one, the only event he's swimming in Beijing in which he isn't the world-record holder.

It's fellow American Ian Crocker who owns the world's best time in the 100 fly -- a 50.40 clocking set at the 2005 world championships. But Crocker still appears to be off his form, and it's Milorad Cavic, a U.S.-born Serbian swimmer, who owns the world's fastest time in 2008 and the top seed for the final after posting a 50.92 in the semis.

Phelps, though, is the reigning world champ, and he'll be in Lane 5 right next to Cavic after winning the other semifinal heat in 50.97.

"The guy's the best the sport has ever seen -- there's no denying that," Cavic said, adding that he's convinced it'll take a world-record time to win the gold. "He's the best the Olympics has ever seen.

"The scariest thing is what he's capable of. As we've seen, he has been breaking world records by two, three, four seconds. Who does that? Who has done that besides him -- ever?"

Finally, a question that can be answered soon, if not already: Nobody.

You can reach John Niyo at John.Niyo@detnews.com

Most Olympic Golds

12 -- Michael Phelps, United States, swimming (2004-6;2008-3)
9 -- Paavo Nurmi, Finland, track and field (1920-3;1924-4 1928-2)
9 -- Larysa Latynina, Soviet Union, gymnastics (1956-4;1960-3 1964-2)
9 -- Mark Spitz, United States, swimming (1968-2;1972-7)
9 -- Carl Lewis, United States, track and field (1984-4;1988-2 1992-2;1996-1)

Saturday, August 16, 2008
Phelps barely wins seventh gold, matches Spitz
John Niyo / The Detroit News

BEIJING -- Watch the replay. Then watch it again. And again.

Watch it 1,000 times a day, for the rest of your life, and you'll still never know just how close Milo Cavic was to making history.

One man reached, the other lunged. And amid the roiling water of a finish that will forever be a part of Olympic lore, each athlete turned and ripped off his swim goggles to see what he'd done.

Only the scoreboard could discern the winner in this one.

Michael Phelps had finished in 50.58 seconds.

The automatic timer clocked Cavic in 50.59.

And by that slimmest possible margin, Phelps not only clipped Cavic in the men's 100-meter butterfly final Saturday morning (Friday night in Detroit) at the National Aquatic Center, he also caught the man whose legacy he has been chasing his entire adult life.

Mark Spitz has company now, as Phelps' seventh triumph in his seventh event at the Beijing Olympics ties him with Spitz for the most gold medals won by an athlete at a single Games. Today, he'll go for his eighth, swimming a leg for the heavily-favored U.S. team in the 400 medley relay.

Only then, perhaps, with history in the rearview mirror, will everyone -- most especially Phelps -- be able to sit back and marvel at the feat.

Serbian Olympic officials filed an official protest but later conceded the appeal after replays slowed to the ten-thousandth of a second showed Phelps to be the winner.

"I had to make sure the '1' was next to my name," said Phelps, moments after he'd chased down Cavic in the final 10 meters and staked claim to a $1 million bonus prize from Speedo for catching Spitz.

Cavic was crestfallen in Lane 4. Phelps was jubilant in Lane 5, lurching skyward in celebration and then slamming his fists down on the water as he screamed.

"Roared," Phelps corrected. "It was a little bit of everything. Relief. Excitement. Everything."

Spitz, who was in Detroit, where his son will compete in the annual Maccabi Games beginning today at West Bloomfield's Jewish Community Center, summed it up in an interview with the Associated Press: "One word: epic.

"It goes to show you that not only is this guy the greatest swimmer of all time and the greatest Olympian of all time," Spitz said, "he's maybe the greatest athlete of all time. He's the greatest racer who ever walked the planet."

Phelps and Cavic, the U.S.-born Serbian swimmer who'd brashly talked about beating him on the eve of the final, actually locked eyes before the race.

"I definitely wasn't staring him down," said Cavic, a 24-year-old Cal graduate who is coached by new University of Michigan men's coach Mike Bottom. "I was just trying to control my energy. Both of us have metallic goggles, so I couldn't see his eyes and he couldn't see mine. You know, maybe he was able to see a reflection of himself, and he was like, 'Hey, I look pretty good.'"

He laughed, and added, "I saw myself in his (goggles) and said, 'You know, I'm keeping this under control.'"

It wasn't easy once they got in the water, though.

At the 50-meter turn, it was Cavic leading, as expected, by more than half a body length. Phelps was in seventh at the turn, but his trademark late charge caught the rest of the field -- and eventually Cavic.

"In the last 15 meters, there was just no point to look over: I knew he was there," Cavic said. "I just kind of saw a shadow in the side of my goggle. I knew he was coming."

At the wall, Cavic was gliding through a finished stroke, while Phelps was churning through one last abbreviated motion, and it appeared to the naked eye as if Cavic's outstretched hands reached the wall first.

"When I made that final half-stroke, I thought I'd lost it there," said Phelps, who won the 2004 Olympic final by a similar margin, edging American rival Ian Crocker by just .04 seconds. "But I guess that was the difference in the race. I'm kind of at a loss for words."

Crocker was fourth in Saturday's race with a time of 51.13, .01 behind Australia's Andrew Lauterstein for the bronze medal.

"It was a tight one," said Crocker, who still owns the world record in the event (50.40) set back in 2005. "It was everything that an Olympic final should be."

Cavic, for his part, said he was satisfied with the result -- a first-ever Olympic medal in swimming for his parents' native country.

"I don't want to fight this," he said, when asked about the protest.

But, he added, "People will be bringing this up for years and saying, 'You won that race.'"

He also said, "If we got to do this again, I would win it."

A day earlier, he'd talked boldly about standing in the way of history.

"One day, you know, when people speak of Michael Phelps winning seven gold medals, and having lost an opportunity to win eight gold medals, they'll talk about whoever that guy is that took it away from him," Cavic said. "I would love to be that guy."

Cavic said it would be "good for the sport" if Phelps lost, adding with a smile, "And I think it would be good for him if he lost once. Just once."

Phelps' coach, Bob Bowman, coyly reminded Phelps of those words just before he walked out on to the deck for Saturday morning's final.

"Beforehand, Bob said it would be good for me if I lost," Phelps said, also smiling. "When he said that, I was fired up. I said, 'I'm going to go for it.' And when I saw that finish I said, 'Wow.'"

You can reach John Niyo at john.niyo@detnews.com ; Detroit News wire services contributed.

News & Features
History written: Phelps wins No. 8
By Steven Nelson
Posted Saturday, August 16, 2008 7:12 PM ET

BEIJING -- A journey that started four years ago after his six-gold performance in Athens and included 17 swims over nine days here ended triumphantly for Michael Phelps on Sunday.

Phelps earned his unprecedented eighth Olympic gold medal of the 2008 Olympics as he swam the butterfly leg of the Americans' world-record win in the 4x100m medley relay to close out the swimming competition at the Water Cube.

Aaron Peirsol led off in the backstroke leg, Brendan Hansen swam the breast and Jason Lezak anchored in the free, the same three who won gold in Athens. Phelps swam the prelims of that race in Athens, giving up his finals spot to Ian Crocker.

Phelps tied Mark Spitz with his seventh gold medal a day earlier in the 100m butterfly, winning by the slimmest of margins, .01 of a second over Milorad Cavic.

His quest was almost derailed in Day 2 of the meet in the 4x100m free relay, but Lezak's unbelievable anchor leg kept the quest alive.

Think he'll be on the Wheaties box?

He needs to be on everything.

Doesn't have a girlfriend, tho....

And Phelps plans an going to the 2012 London Olympics! How many more medals are in his future!

BEIJING -- Bob Bowman fairly scoffs at the question.

Where does Michael Phelps rank among the greats?

"I think if it was over today," said Bowman, Phelps' coach, "he's the greatest Olympian who ever lived."

And he said that Thursday, mind you, before things got really crazy here at the Water Cube.

That was before Phelps' stirring final bow Sunday morning, as he stooped to accept an eighth gold medal in eight days, then fought back tears on the medal podium as he heard the "Star Spangled Banner" played for the eighth time since our Chinese hosts here lit the welcome torch on 8-8-08.

"I guess it's a lucky number for me now, too," Phelps said of his crazy-eights accomplishment. "Maybe it was meant to be, I don't know."

Maybe, yes. But here's what I know: We've never seen anything like this before at an Olympics, and I don't believe we'll see it again for a very long time, if ever.

"The term 'Spitzian feat' might be kind of outdated," said Aaron Peirsol, one of Phelps' teammates on the record-smashing 400-meter medley relay team Sunday. "Now it might be a 'Phelpsian feat.'"

Indeed, by breaking Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals at a single Olympics, Phelps certainly laid claim to throne in his sport, and his celebrity status and crossover appeal has only just begun to raise the profile for swimming in the U.S.

Sunday's win gives him 14 gold medals in his Olympic career, and 16 overall -- both the most in history. He had a hand in setting seven world records at this meet. He picked up a $1 million bonus from Speedo for matching Spitz's 36-year-old mark, and he'll reap untold millions in the weeks and months to come as his agent cashes in on Phelps' international fame.

Great stuff, to be sure. But the greatest?

Not yet. Phelps, in my book of lists, supplants all but Carl Lewis as the best the Olympics has ever seen.

Lewis gets the nod, if only for longevity's sake, winning nine gold medals over four Olympics. (It would've been five -- and probably 10 gold -- if not for that U.S. boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games.) And should Phelps return and win even more medals at the 2012 London Olympics, as he intends to do, well, then I don't think there'll be much left to argue.

"Not only is this guy the greatest swimmer of all time and the greatest Olympian of all time, he's maybe the greatest athlete of all time," Spitz said. "He's the greatest racer who ever walked the planet."

For now, though, there's a race to put him in his place by the Olympic cognoscenti. The "Ringheads," as we call the veteran Olympic journalists, had made up their minds even before Phelps jumped into the bubble-wrapped pool here that eight simply wasn't enough.

And they've thrown out all sorts of legendary Olympic names, from Lewis and Jesse Owens to Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina and Finnish distance runner Paavo Nurmi. Some have argued for German canoeist Birgit Fischer, or even British rower Steven Redgrave, though it would seem to me a bit more difficult to do what Phelps has done in the water, you know, considering he has done it without the boat.

"I do think it's difficult to compare (sports)," Bowman said, "but in terms of just sheer dominance in his events and the times he's putting up and what he's doing now in two Olympics, I think it's hard to argue."

That won't stop everyone from trying, of course.

Already, there's a feud brewing between the track and swimming crowds. A track athlete's body, so the argument goes, takes far more pounding than a swimmer's does. Probably so, but tell that to Phelps after he's completed an 80,000-meter week of three-a-day workouts in the pool -- at altitude -- in addition to the same kind of weight-room work any track athlete tries.

And as for the notion that it's easy to swim all those different strokes and different events, while nearly impossible for track athletes to do more than, say, a sprint double in the 100- and 200-meter dash?

Come on. I sat there Saturday night inside the Bird's Nest and watched the most amazing single performance I've ever seen, as Usain Bolt toyed with his opponents while destroying the world record in the 100. A few years ago, he was destined to be a guy running the 200-400 double, but Bolt -- a freakish physical specimen not unlike Phelps -- admits he dropped the latter because he's "lazy." So don't tell me it's impossible.

"If you dream as big as you can dream, anything is possible," somebody was saying earlier today.

That somebody was Michael Phelps. He would know. To be the greatest, you've first got to try.

You can reach John Niyo at john.niyo@detnews.com

Sunday, August 17, 2008
Gold fish: Phelps swims to record eighth title in Beijing
Paul Newberry / Associated Press

BEIJING -- Michael Phelps locked arms with his three teammates, as though they were in a football huddle calling a play, then hugged each one of them.

It took a team to make him the grandest of Olympic champions. And one last big push from Phelps himself.

Going hard right to the end of a mesmerizing nine days in Beijing, Phelps helped the Americans come from behind Sunday in a race they've never lost at the Olympics, cheering from the deck as Jason Lezak brought it home for a world record in the 400-meter medley relay. It was Phelps' history-making eighth gold medal of these games.

"Everything was accomplished," he said. "I will have the medals forever."

Phelps sure did his part to win No. 8, eclipsing Mark Spitz's seven-gold performance at the 1972 Munich Games.

Aaron Peirsol got the Americans off to the lead in the backstroke, but Brendan Hansen -- a major disappointment in this Olympic year -- slowed them down with only the third-fastest breaststroke leg.

By the time Phelps dived in for the butterfly, the U.S. was trailing Australia and Japan.

That's when he really went to work.

With his long arms whirling across the water like propellers, Phelps caught the two guys ahead of him on the return lap and passed off to Lezak a lead of less than a second for the freestyle. The Australians countered with former world record-holder Eamon Sullivan as their anchor.

"I was thinking not to blow the lead," Lezak said. "I was really nervous."

Sullivan tried to chase down Lezak and appeared to be gaining as they came to the wall, but Lezak finished in 3 minutes, 29.34 seconds -- Phelps' seventh world record in his personal Great Haul of China.

The Aussies took silver in 3:30.04, also under the old world record of 3:30.68 set by the U.S. in Athens four years ago, while Japan held on for the bronze.

Phelps leaned over the blocks, looking to make sure Lezak touched first. Assured the Americans had won, he thrust both index fingers in the air, pumped his right arm and let out a scream. Peirsol also yelled and slapped Phelps in the chest.

Spitz's iconic performance was surpassed by a swimmer fitting of this generation: a 23-year-old from Baltimore who loves hip-hop music, texting with his buddies and wearing his cap backward.
"I don't even know what to feel right now," Phelps said. "There's so much emotion going through my head and so much excitement. I kind of just want to see my mom."

Debbie Phelps was sitting in the stands at the Water Cube, tears streaming down her cheeks, her two daughters by her side. After getting his gold, Phelps quickly found his family, climbing through a horde of photographers to give all three a kiss.

Mom put her arm around his neck and gave him a little extra hug.

Her son sure earned it.

"The Beijing Olympics has witnessed the greatest Olympian of all time -- Michael Phelps of the USA," the announcer said as Phelps posed with his teammates.

The Americans still had to wait a couple of tantalizing minutes for the official results to be posted. Finally, it flashed on the board.

World record.

Gold medal No. 8.

"Nothing is impossible," Phelps said. "With so many people saying it couldn't be done, all it takes is an imagination, and that's something I learned and something that helped me."

Phelps, who won three relays in Beijing along with five individual races, gave a shout-out to all his teammates for helping him take down Spitz.

"Without the help of my teammates this isn't possible," he said. "I was able to be a part of three relays and we were able to put up a solid team effort and we came together as one unit.

"For the three Olympics I've been a part of, this is by far the closest men's team that we've ever had. I didn't know everybody coming into this Olympics, but I feel going out I know every single person very well. The team that we had is the difference."

Phelps set seven world records and one Olympic record, doing a personal best time in every event.

"It can't be described. We'll never, ever see it again," said Australian distance king Grant Hackett, who came up short in his bid to win a third straight 1,500 freestyle title.

Beforehand, Hackett figured Phelps was likely to win six golds, just as he did in Athens four years ago when the first attempt to beat Spitz's record came up just short.

"Everything lined up for him incredibly," Hackett said. "He's a nice guy, a good bloke, and the last few years I've never seen him change."

Back in Baltimore, some 10,000 fans hung around after an NFL preseason game to watch the relay on the stadium's big screen.

"I think he's going to be a legend forever," Ravens fan Ann Williams said.

Phelps won some races by ridiculously large margins, others with the closest of finishes -- most memorably, his seventh gold by one-hundredth of a second over Serbia's Milorad Cavic in the 100 fly. Along the way, he became the winningest Olympian ever and left China with 14 career golds -- five more than anyone else with at least one more Olympics to go.

"It's been nothing but an upwards roller-coaster and it's been nothing but fun," Phelps said.

Ditto for Dara Torres, who capped her improbable comeback with two more silver medals, missing gold by one hundredth of a second in the 50 freestyle.

The 41-year-old Torres, a five-time Olympian and the oldest American swimmer ever, also anchored the American women to a runner-up finish in the 400 medley relay. She got silver in all three of her races in Beijing, giving her 12 medals in a remarkable career that began at the 1984 Los Angeles Games -- a year before Phelps was even born.

Surely this is the end.

Then again, never count Torres out -- she'll only be 45 for the London Games.

"I go home extremely thrilled," said Torres, who also made sure to mention her ailing coach.

Michael Lohberg is battling a rare, potentially fatal blood disease and couldn't travel to Beijing.

"I wouldn't be here without Michael," Torres said.

Germany's Britta Steffen nipped Torres at the wall to complete a sweep of the women's sprint events in Beijing. The middle-aged American smiled, her head dropping back, when she saw a time of 24.07 -- just behind Steffen's winning effort of 24.06. The German added to her gold in the 100 free.

Torres received her silver, then hustled back to the locker room to grab her cap and a pair of old-fashioned goggles that were probably older than some of her teammates. She was trailing as she took the anchor leg and couldn't catch Libby Trickett on a frantic sprint to the wall, with China claiming the bronze.

Still, not bad considering she had retired a second time after the 2000 Sydney Games, then got the urge to compete again after having her first child two years ago. Not content swimming in the old-timers' division, she set out to prove that age is only a number.

Consider that point made.

Torres got off to a good start in the 50 and appeared to be leading midway through the race, a frenetic sprint from one end of the pool to the other.

As they came to the wall, Torres and Steffen were stroke for stroke. The German reached out with her left hand and Torres stretched with her right. Steffen's fingertip got there first.

Completing a race for all ages, 16-year-old Australian Cate Campbell earned the bronze in 24.17.

Australia's relay women -- Emily Seebohm, Leisel Jones, Jess Schipper and Libby Trickett -- took the gold with a world record of 3:52.69. The Americans claimed silver with the second-fastest time in history, 3:53.30, while China took the bronze.

Torres was joined on the U.S. team by Natalie Coughlin, Rebecca Soni and Christine Magnuson. Coughlin received her sixth medal of the games, giving her 11 in her career.

Hackett failed to become the first man to win the same event at three straight Olympics.

The Aussie was upset in swimming's version of the mile by Ous Mellouli, who won Tunisia's first Olympic gold at the pool in 14:40.84.

"It's like 90 yards of a touchdown. It was so close, but I didn't have much of a response," Hackett said. "It's disappointing I didn't win. I have no regrets, it certainly was a close race."

Mellouli held off Hackett in the closing meters of the grueling race, swimming's version of the mile. Hackett earned the silver in 14:41.53, well off his 7-year-old world record of 14:34.56.

"He's never hung on like that in the past," Hackett said of the winner. "He was the better competitor."

Mellouli, who trains in Southern California, was coming off a suspension after testing positive for amphetamines.

Ryan Cochrane of Canada took the bronze in 14:42.69.

After receiving his eighth gold, Phelps received another award from FINA, the sport's governing body, as the best swimmer of the meet.

Make it the best ever.

He's amazing

When it comes to swimming.... In your face--China! US is best!!!

GoGetEmTigers wrote:

And Phelps plans an going to the 2012 London Olympics! How many more medals are in his future!

I kind of hope he wins a silver (and lots more gold - the event he silvers in can be won by another American)

I mean he has 14 golds and 2 bronze. If it were me I'd want every kind of medal.

and now he's a millionaire, thanks to Speedo!

laprimamirala wrote:

and now he's a millionaire, thanks to Speedo!

Well he was before that, too. Wikipedia says he makes $5 million a year in endorsements.