OLYMPICS /
center
Phelps wins 10th, 11th golds of Olympic career
Agencies
Updated: 2008-08-13 12:30
 |
|
Michael Phelps of the US competes to win the men's 200m butterfly swimming final at the National Aquatics Center during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in Beijing on August 13, 2008. It is the 10th gold medal of his Games career. [Agencies]
|
On Wednesday, Phelps swam into history as the winningest Olympic athlete ever with his 10th and 11th career gold medals — and five world records in five events at the Beijing Games.
A day after etching his name alongside Mark Spitz and Carl Lewis with gold No. 9, Phelps set a standard all his own when he won the 200-meter butterfly. An hour later, he swam the leadoff of a runaway victory by the U.S. 800 freestyle relay team, which shattered the old world mark in becoming the first team to break the 7-minute barrier.
Seemingly impervious to fatigue, he set a blistering pace of 1 minute, 43.31 seconds that got the Americans rolling toward a winning time of 6:58.56.
"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, who mainly had to make sure they didn't get in the water too soon. Australia won the bronze.
"Safe start! Safe start!" Phelps yelled at Berens before he dove in.