Phelps breaks the record
August 13th, 2008 at 3:26 pm by David FarrarMichael Phelps has just got his 4th gold medal at these Olympics for a total of 10 Olympics golds. Four atheletes had won nine gold medals each (including Carl Lewis) but he is the first to win 10, and may go on to win 14.
So far he has won gold in the 400m individual medley, 4 x 100m freestyle relay, 200m freestyle and 200 m butterfly. He competes later today in the 4 x 200 m freestyle relay, and later in the 200m individual medley, 100m butterfly and 4 x 100 m medley relay.
What is also amazing is all four gold medals to date have broken the world records. He now holds six world records.
In 2004 he got six golds and two bronzes. The two bronzes were both in races he has already got gold for in 2008. However the relays depend on the whole team, so nothing is certain.
UPDATE: And in the 4 x 200 m freestyle relay Phelps got the team off to a huge start and they smashed the world record to get the gold. First ever relay under seven minutes – more than five seconds off the old record.
Tags: Michael Phelps, Olympics
August 13th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
aah Carl Lewis shouldn’t count in that tally as he was just as drugged up as Ben Johnson; like many he was just ahead of the testers (herbal supplements my eye!). Phelps is truly incredible- that sub7 relay was awesome to see
Vote:August 13th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
Just goes to show there’s too many swimming medals. Ditch anything that’s not freestyle – do we have a 100m for running backwards, hopping and skipping?
Vote:August 13th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Imagine if we still had this going on – stolen from Capital Times:
“No more do we see stirring stories like Paavo Nurmi.
Vote:Nurmi began a golden run at the 1920 Summer Olympics by winning three gold medals in the 10,000m, two cross country events, and finished second in the 5000m. 1924 was boggling – Nurmi won five gold medals. With less than half an hour between the 1500m and 5000m finals, he won both and broke both world records. He won gold in the 3000m team race, and again both cross country events.
Finnish officials (obviously wanting to share the medals around) refused to allow him to defend his 10,000m title. Filthy, Nurmi went home to Finland, ran a 10,000m, and set a world record that stood for 13 years. He took it easy in 1928, just winning the 10,000m and a couple of silvers. That’s emotional stuff.”
August 13th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
I’m not normally one for conspiracy theories, but …
WHAT IF, in the live coverage of the final stages of the mens’ 200 metre butterfly final we “somehow” did not see LIVE, Moss Bermester actually powered past Michael Phelps to win and ruin the Yank’s dream medal run?
YES, on the replay the results seem to suggest otherwise.
BUT, as we’ve seen, the Chinese are masters of CGI.
Could the CIA have “somehow” influenced the outcome?
Has the race coverage been re-engineered via CGI to achieve a different result?
The truth is out there.
Vote:August 13th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
“do we have a 100m for running backwards, hopping and skipping?”
well we have a metal for who can NOT RUN the fastest.
Vote:August 13th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
I love how they show the record time graphically now so you can work out if they may break the record or not.
Vote:August 13th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
The superimposed moving bar? They’ve been doing that for years, though perhaps only after the Athens olympics…
Vote:August 13th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
A king-sized roll of tinfoil for Damocles, please…although I am still dubious about anyone ever having won first division Lotto (anyone know someone who has? eh? eh?) and have a firm belief the All Blacks throw games to keep the TV audience interested as tourneys (other than the RWC) go down to the wire…
Vote:August 13th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
Agree. Any sport that doesn’t involve winning by going fastest however you feel like it, isn’t a real sport. Swimming in funny ways – rather than just getting yourself down the course as fast as possible. Running in funny ways. Riding horses. And anything else that involves scores given by judges.
Vote:August 13th, 2008 at 11:00 pm
I break wind.
Vote:August 13th, 2008 at 11:01 pm
Seriously though, when the Olympics first started off in ancient times it was all about athletes, more specifically sprinting. The Blue ribbon event of the Olympics today is the 100m. It is near impossible for an athletics sportsman to win 8 Gold medals in one Olympics.
Who better represents the Olympic motto “Faster, Higher, Stronger”. A weedy swimmer or a muscled, built like a brick shithouse, Athletic sprinter.
Vote:August 14th, 2008 at 8:27 am
“Who better represents the Olympic motto “Faster, Higher, Stronger”. A weedy swimmer or a muscled, built like a brick shithouse, Athletic sprinter.”
Obviously, you haven’t seen phelps. He’s Gigantor.
You usually can’t tell how big a person is on tv, but Phelps stands out spectacularly.
The A list sprinters may have a hard time competeing with his image.
he could really have been any athlete he wanted.
Swimming was a very wise decision knowing black athlete’s don’t compete in it.
Although there is one black US swimmer, Phelps doesn’t have to face several at the starting blocks.
Vote:August 14th, 2008 at 9:49 am
So Michael Phelps spends time in Dunedin getting tested in the flume (sponsored by Speedo) and now the flume’s funding is being cut and the sports scientist who runs it is moving to the Aust Intitute of sport.
Go Trevor Mallard!
Vote:August 14th, 2008 at 10:12 am
Scary when you think that Phelps as a one man country now stands at 6th in the overall Medal Table!
Vote:August 15th, 2008 at 5:22 am
riki says on August 14th, 2008 at 8:27 am :
If you look at sprinters thighs you’ll know the difference between a sprinter and a swimmer. Sprinters are all fast twitch muscle fibre and lots of it. Swimmers not so much.
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