It was a mighty close thing, but Michael Phelps is still on for a record-breaking haul at the Beijing Olympics.

In the words of my colleague Julian Linden, Phelps dodged a bullet at the Water Cube early on Monday, as he had his American team mates Garrett Weber-Gale, Cullen Jones and Jason Lezak combined to smash the 4×100 metres freestyle relay record after a ferocious battle with France.

The French looked certain to win gold — and wreck Phelps’s hopes of winning eight golds in one Games and breaking the record of Mark Spitz – but Lezak overhauled Alain Bernard on the last stroke to win the gold in three minutes 08.24 seconds and carve nearly four seconds off the previous record.

So it’s two down, six to go and at the moment Phelps is counting off the golds in world records. If he carries on like this we’ll have one amazing story.

Can he do it?

PHOTO: Michael Phelps and Garret Weber-Gale (L) of the U.S. celebrate after winning the men’s 4×100m freestyle relay swimming final at the National Aquatics Center during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 11, 2008. REUTERS/David Gray