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Eleven golds! Phelps is greatest Olympian ever
Kiran Randhawa and Shekhar Bhatia in Beijing13 Aug 2008
Mark Phelps became the most successful Olympic athlete of all time - and not even his faulty goggles got in the way of him claiming a 10th gold medal.
For much of his record-breaking race today, the 23-year-old could not see as the goggles filled up with water and blurred his view.
But America's golden boy still stormed to victory in the 200 metres freestyle relay in record time, just an hour after winning another gold in the 200 metres butterfly, bringing his total gold medal tally, including Athens, to an unprecedented 11.
After finishing the race, the swimmer tossed his goggles aside and said: "I couldn't see anything for the last 100m, my goggles pretty much filled up with water. Itkept getting worse and I was having trouble seeing the walls to be honest."
Rather modestly, Phelps, who finished the race in a world record time of 1:52.03, added: "But it's fine. I wanted to break the record and wanted to go 1:51 or better but in the circumstances I guess it's not too bad." Less than three hours later he claimed yet another gold medal as part of the US 4x200m freestyle team.
Today's triumphs are his fourth and fifth gold medals since the competition began five days ago and he still has a shot at three more, which could see him winning an unprecedented eight golds by the time the Games are over.
More incredibly, all five of his races have been done in record time.
Added to his six golds from Athens four years ago, the two victories sees Phelps surpass the nine golds won by sprinter Carl Lewis, swimmer Mark Spitz, Soviet gymnast Larysa Latynina and Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi. He remains on target to surpass Spitz's achievement of seven golds in one Olympics.
Dubbed the "human dolphin", his success has been put down to his ability to kick like the mammal for 10 metres off each wall, keeping him under water longer than other swimmers-He powers the kick by flexing his body from the stomach down.
In the relay Phelps was first in the pool. His team-mates Ryan Lochte, Ricky Berens and Peter Vanderkaay carried on where he left off and eventually clocked a new world record time of 6:58.56, the first time the sevenminute barrier has been broken.
Phelps began swimming as a sevenyearold. Hewas diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and was prescribed the drug Ritalin. He used the sport as an outlet for his hyperactivity and took it up professionally at the age of 16. He is now recognised as the most successful swimmer the world has ever seen.
Reader views (2)
Just because he has the most medals does not make him the best Olympian. There are so many athletes who qualify for that title. Deciding who is needs more thought rather than just counting a medal tally. Personally i think a decathlete owns that title the minute he gets the gold. Being the best over ten sports surely is the deciding factor.
- Mr S.Port, London, 14/08/2008 02:18
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Steve Redgrave is the greatest Olympian. He, after all, has won Gold at 5 Olympics, spanning quarter of a century!
- Andy, crouch end, 13/08/2008 15:17
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