All For One And all 4 Gold
Michael Phelps owned the pool at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games with an astonishing eight
gold medal performance.
The number “eight” in
Chinese sounds like “fortune” Michael Phelps was indeed fortunate to win the Men’s 100 butterfly
on Saturday at the National Aquatics Center.
Phelps and Cavic battled it out in the last 50m. Phelps appeared to be about to suffer a
monumental upset - until he dug deep and out-touched Cavic on the wall.
Gold medal Seven appears to have not only been fortunate but very lucky for Phelps.
Phelps has now recorded five world records in Individual Olympic events, surpassing Americans
Mark Spitz and John Hencken, who previously held the best mark with four.
All but his 100m Butterfly victory was accompanied by a world record.
Along the way, he broke a host of other records, including surpassing Mark Spitz’s Munich
1972 Olympic Games effort of seven gold medals at a single summer Olympic Games.
Many had said that was impossible.
* Phelps began his assault on the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games with a bang, winning the
Men’s 400m Individual Medley on day two in a world record time of 4:03.84, slicing 1.41 seconds
off the old mark.
* His second gold was in the 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay. Frenchman Alain Bernard turned
first at the 50 meter mark on the final leg. Thirty-two-year-old American Jason Lezak was a body
length behind the flying Bernard and it looked as though Phelps, who had swum the lead-off leg,
and his team would have to settle for silver.
Lezak had other plans and produced one of the most stunning final 50m splits ever, a lightning
quick 46.06, to overpower the Frenchman on the wall by 0.08 seconds and keep Phelps’ dream
of eight golds alive. Lezak later said The French’s trash talk inspired him.
* Phelps’ third gold came in the Men’s 200m Freestyle final on day four, in which he broke
the world record by nearly one second with a time of 1:42.96.
* Victory in the Men’s 200m Butterfly final on day five took Phelps’ gold medal tally
to four and gave him another world record - 1:52.03.
* The Men’s 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay, also on day five, was next for Phelps. His team’s
world record of 6:58.56 broke the magical seven-minute barrier and netted Phelps’ fifth gold..
* Phelps’ then won gold in the Men’s 200m Individual Medley on day seven, setting
a world record by 0.57 seconds.
* The Men’s 100m Butterfly on day eight provided Phelps with his tightest race, but the
challenge didn’t come from the man expected, American Ian Crocker. Little-known Milorad Cavic of
Serbia turned at the 50m in front of Phelps and 0.09 seconds under the world record split. Phelps
dug deep to outtouch Cavic on the wall by 0.01 seconds to keep the dream alive.
* Phelps’ final and eighth gold medal, which launched him into the Olympic history
came with a win in the Men’s 4 x 100m Medley Relay on day nine. Michael Phelps won his record
eighth gold medal in the Men’s 4 x 100m Medley Relay final on Sunday but this time needed
some help from his friends.
The US team of Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hansen, Jason Lezak and Phelps won in a time of 3:29.34 and
broke the world record by 1.34 seconds.
The defending Olympic champions and world record holders led from start to finish.
Peirsol gave them a great start with a 53.16sec split. Hansen increased the lead on the world record
split taking it 0.39 seconds under at the race’s halfway mark. Brenton Rickard swam his breaststroke
leg in 58.56, faster than Hansen, to bring the Australians into second place.
Phelps fought off the Australian challenge in the Butterfly leg before Lezak kept Eamon
Sullivan on his shoulder until the wall.
