16B SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, AUGUST 18, 2008
OLYMPICS
Phelps sets record with eight
Michael Phelps surpasses Mark Spitz's 1972 Munich feat of seven gold medals; Australia's Hackett fails to win third straight; Torres finishes with three silver medals
United States' Michael Phelps swims the butterfly leg of the men's 4x100-meter medley relay final to win gold during the swimming competitions in the National Aquatics Center at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Sunday.
BY PAUL NEWBERRY ASSOCIATED PRESS
BEJIING — Michael Phelps locked arms with his three teammates, as though they were in a football huddle calling a play, then hugged each one of them.
It took a team to make him the grandest of Olympic champions. And one last big push from Phelps
himself.
Going hard right to the end of a mesmerizing nine days in Beijing, Phelps helped the Americans come from behind Sunday in a race they've never lost at the Olympics, cheering from the deck as Jason Lezak brought it home for a world record in the 400-meter medley relay. It was Phelps' history-making eighth gold medal of these games.
"Everything was accomplished," he said. "I will have the medals forever."
Phelps sure did his part to win No. 8, eclipsing Mark Spitz's seven-gold performance at the 1972 Munich Games.
Aaron Peirsol got the Americans off to the lead in the backstroke, but Brendan Hansen — a major disappointment in this Olympic
By the time Phelps dived in for the butterfly, the U.S. was trailing Australia and Japan.
year — slowed them down with only the third-fastest breaststroke leg.
That's when he really went to work.
"I was thinking not to blow the lead. I was really nervous."
With his long arms whirling across
the water like propellers, Phelps caught the two guys ahead of him on the return lap and passed off to Lezak a lead of less than a second for the freestyle. The Australians countered with former world record-holder Eamon Sullivan as their anchor.
JASON LEZAK U.S. Olympic swimmer
3:30.04, also under the old world record of 3:30.68 set by the U.S.
"I was thinking not to blow the lead," Lezak said. "I was really nervous."
Sullivan tried to chase down Lezak and appeared to be gaining as they came to the wall, but Lezak finished in 3 minutes, 29.34 seconds — Phelps' seventh world record in his personal Great Haul of China.
The Aussies took silver in
in Athens four years ago, while Japan held on for the bronze.
Spitz's iconic performance was surpassed by a swimmer fitting of this generation:
a 23-year-old from Baltimore who
loves hip-hop music, texting with his buddies and wearing his cap backward.
"I don't even know what to feel right now," Phelps said. "There's so much emotion going through my head and so much excitement. I kind of just want to see my mom."
D e b b i e
Phelps was sit-
cheeks, her two daughters by her side. After getting his gold, Phelps quickly found his family, climbing through a horde of photographers to give all three a kiss.
Mom put her arm around his neck and gave him a little extra hug.
Her son sure earned it.
"The Beijing Olympics has witnessed the greatest Olympian of all time — Michael Phelps of the USA," the announcer said as Phelps posed with his teammates.
The Americans still had to wait a couple of tantalizing minutes for the official results to be posted. Finally, it flashed on the board.
World record.
"There's so much emotion going through my head and so much excitement.I kind of just want to see my mom."
MICHAEL PHELPS
U.S. Olympic swimmer
ting in the stands at the Water Cube, tears streaming down her
Gold medal No.8.
"Nothing is impossible," Phelps said. "With so many people saying it couldn't be done, all it takes is an imagination, and that's something I learned and something that
helped me."
Phelps, who won three relays in
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