Changing China

Michael Phelps made light of goggle trouble to claim his fourth gold medal of the Games and then helped his American team win the 4 x 100 m freestyle and make it five wins from five, in fact five world records from five, at these Games.

He now has 11 Olympic gold medals, which puts clear blue water between him and four athletes who have won nine.

He is still on course to break the old record of seven golds at one Games, held by Mark Spitz, after what were two more breathtaking swims on Wednesday.

Victory in the butterfly came despite the fact that goggle trouble was making it difficult for him to see.

“My goggles filled up with water all the time and I had difficulty seeing the walls,” he told reporters.

He shaved 0.06 seconds off the world record in that race but that was nothing to the time he and his team mates posted in the relay. Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Ricky Berens and Peter Vanderkaay carved 4.68 seconds off the world record to win the gold in 6:58.56 with Russia a distant second and Australia third.

The greatest Olympian of all time? Have your say here…

PHOTO: Michael Phelps of the U.S reacts after winning the men’s 200 meters butterfly swimming final at the National Aquatics Center during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 13, 2008. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay

NOTE: This post was updated after Phelps’s second gold medal of the day