BEIJING -- A journey that started four years ago after his six gold medals in Athens and included 17 swims over nine days here ended triumphantly for Michael Phelps on Sunday.

Phelps earned his unprecedented eighth Olympic gold medal of the 2008 Olympics as he swam the butterfly leg of the Americans' world-record win in the 4x100m medley relay to close out the swimming competition at the Water Cube.

Jason Lezak held off Eamon Sullivan of Australia in the freestyle leg, with the Americans finishing in 3:29.34. Australia took the silver in 3:30.04 and Japan the bronze.

Lezak said he was inspired by the celebrities on hand to watch history in the making.

"I looked up and I saw Kobe and LeBron, the best basketball players in the world. No way we were going to let those guys down," he said.

Aaron Peirsol led off in the backstroke leg, Brendan Hansen swam the breast and Lezak anchored, the same three who won gold in Athens. Phelps swam the prelims of that race in Athens, giving up his finals spot to Ian Crocker. The American men have never lost the medley relay in the history of the Olympics.

"Hats off to this guy right here," Peirsol said of Phelps in an NBC interview on the pool deck after the race. "He did something that's never been done before. We're happy to be a part of it."

Hansen called Phelps' 8-for-8 the greatest achievement in sports.

"Every single athlete in the world right now needs to tip their hat to Michael Phelps" he said.

Phelps tied Mark Spitz with his seventh gold medal a day earlier in the 100m butterfly, winning by the slimmest of margins, .01 of a second over Milorad Cavic.

His quest was almost derailed in Day 2 of the meet in the 4x100m free relay, but Lezak's unbelievable anchor leg kept the quest alive. he touched ahead of Alain Bernard of France by .08.

"It wouldn't have been possible without the help of my teammates." Phelps said. "For the three Olympics I've been a part of, this is by far the closest men's team that we've ever had. I didn't know everybody coming into this Olympics, but I feel going out I know every single person very well. The team that we had is the difference."

Phelps set world records in seven of his eight swims, with only the 100m fly mark not broken. He also won the 400m IM, the 200m IM and the 200m fly, breaking his own world mark in each, and led off the 4x200m free relay.

It was nine days of magical moments for Phelps, and he said the collective effort is what he'll remember most.

"Every race, from one to the other," he said. "It's the whole thing. It's a great experience."

"Everything had to go perfect. Everything had to fall perfectly into place and I was able to have probably the best week of my life."

Probably? 

I LOVE HOW HE SAYS PROBABALY!..LOLS making sound soo easy!..LOLS...ahh its alrite he's my man!....hahahah alrite..this is the most recent article on him..like 30hr later since he won....so there's more to come!

BEIJING -- Move over Mark Spitz.

Michael Phelps won his seventh gold medal of the Beijing Olympics on Saturday, edging Milorad Cavic by a fingernail, .01 of second in the 100m butterfly on Saturday at the Water Cube.

Phelps' seventh gold ties Spitz's 36-year-old record from the 1972 Munich Olympics.

The Serbian federation filed a written protest to FINA, swimming's world governing body, contesting the result, but Serbian officials were shown video of the finish and agreed not to pursue it further.

Replays showed clearly that Phelps had won, according to USA Swimming's Jamie Fabos Olsen.

"If it was up to me, I would just drop the protest," said Cavic, who swam collegiately at the University of California-Berkeley. "I'm stoked with what happened. I don't want to fight this."

Still, Cavic said he wasn't sure the fastest swimmer won. "Is Michael Phelps the gold-medal winner? I think if we got to do this again, I would win it," he said.

Phelps, who was seventh out of eight swimmers at the first wall but made up ground with his turn, still looked to be behind Cavic in the final meters but got to the wall first in 50.58 to Cavic's 50.59. Phelps took a half stroke to the wall and Cavic kicked in.

"As soon as I took the last half stroke, to be honest I thought that I had lost the race," Phelps said. "That was the difference. If I had glided, I would have lost. I guess I'm blessed."

It's the second time in the meet Phelps' run at gold has come down to a photo finish. Earlier in the 4x100m free relay, Jason Lezak outtouched France's Alain Bernard to win by .08 of a second. Phelps swam the leadoff leg in that race.

Phelps will try to beat Spitz's record in the 4x100m medley relay Sunday in the final day of swimming in Beijing.

While the pre-meet, potential upset talk in the 100m fly centered around world-record holder Ian Crocker, Cavic looked to be the biggest threat in the prelims.

Phelps said Cavic's words before the race fueled him.

"The one thing that really fired me up beforehand, (Cavic) said it would be good for (him) and good for swimming if he won," Phelps said in an NBC poolside interview after the race. "I'm at a loss for words. I had no idea the race was that close. I was lucky enough to get my hands on the wall first."

Crocker's record, 50.40 set in 2005, is the only world mark Phelps hasn't bettered in Beijing. Crocker finished a distance fourth Saturday in 51.13.

Phelps said tying Spitz has been a longtime goal.

"In my dreams I always wanted it," he said. "I thought in the perfect circumstances I could do it."

Spitz was not at the race but joined Phelps for an NBC interview via satellite from the United States.

"What you did tonight was epic," Spitz told Phelps. "I never thought you were out of that race. That is a tribute to your greatness. We're so proud of you. I am happy to keep company with you."

They may share the record, for now, but Spitz said "he can be called the best Olympian of all time." 

holy shit..i waslike omgomgogmgom he hasss to winnn!!!!! rarrrrwww!..if he doesnt!.lols stupid cabbage.....racing like there's no end..LOLS

PHEW...good thing he won..i would have cried! if he didnt..!!..LOLS =]

NEW YORK (AP) -- Michael Phelpsis dominating digital interest in the Olympics as much as he is the gold medal count.

More than 2 million people have clicked on NBCOlympics.com to watch a video replay of the thrilling men's 4x100m swimming relay, where the Americans scored a come-from-behind victory over the French. Phelps won gold for his role in the relay, although it was teammate Jason Lezak's surge at the end that was the indelible image.

That race alone accounts for more than 40 percent of the nearly 5 million video on-demand orders from the Web site, NBC Universal said on Thursday.

Three of the next four most-ordered clips were also Phelps gold-medal races, with his 400-meter victory called up 492,000 times. The only non-Phelps video in the top five was a collection of highlights from last Friday's Opening Ceremony.

Web site users have also called up Phelps' profile 3.7 million times, far and away the most of any other athlete.

Gymnasts Alicia Sacramone and Shawn Johnson were next, each with 1.4 million views, NBC said, followed by Australian swimmer Stephanie Rice and fencer Mariel Zagunis.

Nearly 25 million unique users have visited NBC's Web site through five days of competition, with 456 million page views, the network said.

"These record numbers validate our multiplatform strategy," said Gary Zenkel, NBC Olympics president. "They drive viewers to share in the Olympic experience in record numbers." 


hahah HE"S EVERYWHERE......he's the center of the olmpics..^^yea baby~

well, today he doesnt swim..hahahha he's on a break/......finally!..lols after like 6 medals!..lols straight!....he needs a rest! =] ..lalaala...cant wait for the next! =]

BEIJING -- Michael Phelpswon the men's 200-meter butterfly Wednesday and not even an hour later helped lift the U.S. 4x200m freestyle relay team to victory, becoming the winningest athlete in Olympic history, now with 11 gold medals -- and counting.

The U.S. men didn't just set the world record, they destroyed it. Their 6:58.56 was 4.68 seconds faster than the previous record, also set by the U.S. men at the 2007 World Championships.

Phelps swam a 1:43 31 leading off the relay, just short of his personal best, and the world record, set the day before in winning the 200m freestyle. Ryan Lochte, Ricky Berens and Peter Vanderkaay did the rest, as the silver medalists from Russia finished more than five seconds behind.

"For four years we knew we could probably get under 7 minutes," Lochte said in a poolside interview with NBC. "It's great to finally do it."

Phelps is now five-for-five in Beijing, with a world record in every final.

In the first of his two races, Phelps touched in 1:52.03 for his fourth gold medal and fourth world record in Beijing. The mark had been 1:52.09, set by Phelps at the 2007 Worlds.

But the race was closer than Phelps expected. Two others went under 1:53. Laszlo Cseh of Hungary was second in 1:52.70 and Japan's Takeshi Matsuda won the bronze in 1:52.97.

As he came off the pool deck, Phelps disclosed that his goggles had filled with water, adding, "I could not believe how close to me those guys were."

"I can't see anything," Phelps said to his coach, Bob Bowman.

Later, after the relay, Phelps admitted he was bothered with the goggle problem even though he broke his own world mark.

"As soon as I dove in, they filled up," he said. "I was kind of frustrated. I had to fix my goggles (for the relay). Everything is back under control. They were fine for this race."

Along with the five golds he has now won in Beijing, Phelps won six at the 2004 Athens Games. Phelps also won two bronze medals in 2004.

Coming into Wednesday's action at the Water Cube, Phelps stood at nine career Olympic golds, tied with four others for most career golds, among them Mark Spitz and track star Carl Lewis.

"I'm almost at a loss for words," Phelps said of breaking the career record. "To be in the same group with the greatest Olympians who ever lived, to have the most golds in history is unbelievable."

Spitz still holds the mark for most golds won by one athlete in a single Olympics, seven in Munich in 1972.

That's the next goal in Phelps' sights.

Yet to come: the 200m individual medley Friday; the 100m butterfly Saturday; and the 4x100m medley relay, with prelims on Friday, the final Sunday. 


............as expected.....WORLD RECORDS AND GOLD MEDALS to come! <3..you can do it baby ^ ^


as you can see..this week..not even this month is all about him.. so please bare with me cuz i love him too much..^^....hehehe...so in my life...i forgot to tell you ..this is the last week of schol .. i ahve final on thursday..and plan to stay up to study...haha ^^...so....gota benkyo..! ja ne~ LOVE PHELPS<3..LOLS ^^

BEIJING -- Michael Phelps won the men's 200-meter freestyle Tuesday at the Beijing Olympics in a world record time of 1:42.96, a milestone victory on his march through Olympic history.

In all of that history, more than a century's worth, isn't Phelps now the greatest of all the great American athletes?

He would never say so. He would say that's for others to debate.

But there is no debate.

The 200m victory Tuesday marked the ninth gold medal of Phelps' career. He is now tied with four others, including Mark Spitz, for most career golds. The other: track star Carl Lewis, Finnish distance runnning legend Paavo Nurmi and Soviet gymnast Larissa Latynina.

The victory Tuesday also gives Phelps three here in Beijing. Five more to top Spitz -- who won seven in Munich in 1972 -- for most golds in a single Games.

 Golds 10 and 11 could come as soon as Wednesday, in the 200m butterfly and the 4x200m free relay.

The race Tuesday gave Phelps his third world record of the Beijing Games, the others in the 400 IM and the 4x100m freestyle relay. Phelps swam under world record pace at each of Tuesday's splits. 

The race Tuesday proved only the third time in Olympic history that an American swimmer has won the 200m free. The others: Bruce Furniss, in 1976, and Spitz, in 1972.

The 200m has come to define Phelps' ruthless competitiveness, his drive to dominate.

Because this used to be the race in which that was not the case.

In Athens, in the 200-meter freestyle, Phelps finished third, behind Ian Thorpe of Australia and Pieter van den Hoogenband of the Netherlands.

Going into that Athens 200m, Phelps knew he was likely to get beat -- "the slightest chance in hell to win," he has said.

"But I wanted to step up and try to win," he has also said.

Not again, he made plain afterward.

Thorpe had set the world record in the 200m free in 2001, a mark that for years seemed untouchable: 1:44.06.

At the 2007 World Championships -- Thorpe by then retired -- Phelps went 1:43.86. Van den Hoogenband finished more than two seconds behind.

Only two other swimmers have ever gone under 1:45 in the 200m free, Thorpe and van den Hoogenband.

Hoogie bailed out of the 200m here in Beijing. He said he wanted to concentrate on the 100m; he is the 100m champ in both Athens and in Sydney in 2000.

But he also told the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, "I know I should be able to get a medal on the 200 freestyle as except for Phelps I measure up to everyone else."

Reality check: who measures up to Michael Phelps?