Changing China
Giant on the move
Heroic Phelps equals Spitz record (Update x2)
Michael Phelps joined Mark Spitz at the highest peak of Olympic achievement on Saturday when his final, desperate lunge for the board brought him victory in the 100m butterfly by the thinnest possible margin and gave him his seventh gold medal at these Games — after an official protest from Serbia was rejected.
Milorad Cavic of Serbia appeared to have the gold tied up until Phelps’s perfect timing saw him home by one hundredth of a second. That is as precise as the timekeeping goes but if anything it looked less than that and shortly after the race Serbia protested the result.
That was rejected a few minutes later, confirming the seventh gold for Phelps.
”I actually thought when I did take that half stroke I thought I had lost the race right there, but I guess that was the difference in the end,” Phelps told reporters after the race but before the protest was launched.
“The last two Olympics I have been able to nail my finishes, I’m happy and at a loss for words but excited.”
Spitz is the only other man to have achieved the feat of seven golds at a single Games, back in Munich in 1972. Phelps will go clear of him on Sunday if, as expected, he joins his American team mates in winning the 4×100 medley relay.
FINA has reviewed the tape by ten-thousandsth of a second a frame to show that Phelps did indeed touch the wall first. The electronic touchpad confirmed it, the Kenyen referee confirmed it, and even the Serb swimming committee was there to see the tape for themselves. What is there to argue about?
I saw the replay too. At first it appeared as if Cavic touched the wall first but if you take a closer look – he didnt touch it yet, he was just really close to it. When Cavic was gliding Phelps was stroking and when Cavic was just a fingernal away from the wall BOOM! Phelps hands went past Cavic to touch it first. It is almost too close to see but in that last millisecond Phelps’ hands were faster than the Cavic. And that made the difference.
Even if there is a debate it is whether they tied or not and whether there would be 2 winners. In any case Phelps would still have that Gold medal anyway.