Michael Phelps completed his record-breaking haul of eight gold medals at one Games on Sunday, beating fellow American swimmer Mark Spitz’s seven from Munich in 1972.
This one was never in much doubt — in stark contrast to the ‘fingernail’ win in yesterday’s butterfly — as he and his American team won the 4 x 100 metres medley relay comfortably. It took his overall tally to 14 from two Games.
He was already the athlete with most Olympic gold medals; now he has overtaken Spitz’s record too.
Not everyone may regard him as the greatest Olympian ever, but this was surely the greatest single feat at one Games.
What do you think?
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3 comments so far
Fantastic form Phelps but did anyone else feel it was an anticlimax after yesterday’s win and the 100 meters from Bolt?
- Posted by jefForgot to mention. The eight golds (if you include the relays) would put Phelps joint fourth in the overall medals table — level with Australia and behind only China, the U.S. and Germany.
- Posted by Kevin FylanI have to agree with Jef. Phelps has been great…but it’s getting a bit worn out, and I’m gradually getting tired of reading about ‘record-breaking’ and ‘historic’ Phelps. It’s like I’ve been reading the same story every day for the last 8 days. The 1/100ths of a second win yesterday was the special one we’ll remember. Let’s have something fresh to read about here, eh?
- Posted by Erik