Phelps Makes History With 2 More Golds

U.S. Swimmer Sets Olympic Record With 11 Career Gold Medals

(CBS/AP)  Tied no more. Michael Phelps swam into history as the winningest Olympic athlete ever with his 10th and 11th career gold medals and fourth world record of the Beijing Games.

A day after etching his name alongside Mark Spitz and Carl Lewis with gold No. 9, Phelps claimed the record all to himself when he won the 200-meter butterfly Wednesday morning. He later led the American team to gold in the 800-meter freestyle relay.

Phelps had a problem with his goggles - but that didn't keep him from touching first during the butterfly.

He's now all alone at the top, with three more chances to stretch his lead before he leaves China.

Phelps has trained in Ann Arbor, Mich., as part of Club Wolverine.

In the fly, his signature stroke, Phelps was second at the first flip, then pushed it into another gear, his long arms gobbling up huge chunks of water as he literally sailed along atop the surface. He touched the wall in 1 minutes, 52.03 seconds, breaking his mark of 1:52.09 from last year's world championships.

He barely smiled as he looked at the board, breathing heavily and hanging on the lane rope. Hungary's Laszlo Cseh really pushed it at the end, but settled for silver in 1:52.70. Japan's Takeshi Matsuda took the bronze in 1:52.97.

Phelps rubbed his eyes and said climbing from the pool, "I can't see anything." A pair of leaky goggles kept him from even seeing the wall as he finished.

Still, it was another gold and another record, taking Phelps halfway to his goal of beating Spitz's record of seven gold medals in a single games.

"My goggles kept filling up with water during the race," he said. "I wanted a world record, I wanted 1:51 or better, but in the circumstances not too bad I guess."

Everyone wanted to get a look at history, including the U.S. men's basketball team. Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony were among those cheering on Phelps from poolside seats. James posed for pictures with Phelps' mom, Debbie.

Just to set the tone, three worlds records fell before Phelps even walked on deck.

But some say this year's swimming competition is rigged for record-smashing with what one critic called technological doping, reports CBS News correspondent Barry Petersen.

Advancements in the swimsuits, which are made to mimic shark skin, and variations in pool design may give these Beijing Olympians an advantage over athletes in previous games.

Phelps swam the leadoff leg of the 800-meter freestyle relay and helping the United States smash the old world record by 4.68 seconds.

Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Ricky Berens and Peter Vanderkaay led the entire race, winning in 6 minutes, 58.56 seconds. That bettered the old mark of 7:03.24 set by the U.S. at last year's world championships in Australia.

Russia took the silver in 7:03.70. Australia earned the bronze in 7:04.98.

Berens gushed over Phelps' performance, telling CBS' The Early Show that his teammate is "incredible. I mean, race after race, that
guy does it all."

In the semifinals of the 100 free, Australia's Eamon Sullivan and France's Alain Bernard played takeaway with the record Sullivan set two days earlier.

In the first heat, Bernard won in 47.20 to knock down Sullivan's mark of 47.24 from the leadoff leg of the memorable 400 free relay. That record lasted all of 2 minutes. Sullivan won the second heat in 47.05, setting up a thrilling showdown in Thursday's final.

"Records don't mean much," Sullivan said. "They don't win medals at the end of the day, unfortunately. But it gives me confidence that I can swim my own race under pressure."

American Jason Lezak, who chased down Bernard in the relay, advanced to the final with the sixth-best time, 47.98. The other U.S. swimmer, Garrett Weber-Gale, failed to advance.

Then it was Federica Pelligrini's turn. The Italian broke the mark she set a day earlier in the semifinals, winning gold in 1:54.82. The old record was 1:55.45.

Sara Isakovic of Slovenia claimed the bronze in 1:54.97, and China's Pang Jiaying thrilled the home fans by passing Katie Hoff on the final lap to take bronze in 1:55.05.

It was another disappointment for Hoff, who looked to be one of the big stories of the game when she qualified in five individual events - the same number as Phelps.

The 19-year-old American, who considers Phelps her big brother, has yet to match his success in the water. In her first two races, Hoff settled for a bronze and a silver, which look pretty good after she faded out of the medal hunt in the 200 free, finishing 0.63 behind Pang.

[juwboy]

slim1h2o:

You`re the only one who`s bitten, so here are the answers to my two Olympic Games tricvia questions (4.51AM, 8/13):

Danny Carroll won Olympic rugby gold medals for Australia in 1908 and the USA in 1920.

Phillip Dutton won Olympic equestrian gold medals for Australia in 1996 and 2000 and is competing for the USA at Beijing.

[keithle1]

I can get into the swimming. That''s about it. I haven''t seen any black swimmers. Is swimming racist?

[fabrat1]

win%u2022ning%u2022est


Pronunciation: (win''ing-ist), [key]
%u2014adj. Informal.
1. winning most often: the winningest coach in college basketball.
2. most winning or charming: the winningest smile in town.

Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright ) 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.

[cdfoxtrot2]

Oxford University provide a means of searching on particular words:

http://www.askoxford.com

Go there, and you''ll see there''s no search result for "winningest". It''s not a proper word.

Sorry, again.

[cdfoxtrot2]

"winningest" is not a word. CBS, CNN and others who use non-words like this are dragging the media downmarket.
Posted by cdfoxtrot2

Sorry, cdfoxtrot2, but Merriam Webster disagrees with you.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dic
tionary/winningest

So I guess you are not the winningest expert on the English Language!

Posted by nolalou

American dictionaries include all kinds of ***. They''re not serious. Sorry, but there is no such word as "winningest". CBS''s own spell-checker agrees, and flags the "word" as incorrect.

This is up there with the "factoid''s" that CNN used to put out there.

The english language was developed by the English people and if you want to know whether something is "real" or not, you need to look at credible English sources, particularly the Oxford English Dictionary.
American sources don''t cut it. Sorry, again.

[mainemade]

Watching this kid in the water is amazing. They are all great, no matter what country they represent. But WOW watching Olympic history get made last night was awesome! Way to go Mr. Phelps!! You do us and your family PROUD!!

[credibility2]

To geena5: The newer high-tech body suits were equally offered to all Olympic athletes by the manufacturer and those not wearing them obviously opted out. The Chinese also redesigned and re-engineered the overall width and depth of the pool, which also benefitted swimmers and is contributing to so many new world records being made. All swimmers had an increased advantage, but those placing in the top three were obviously better than the others.I guess you must also think that the women volley ball players are at an advantage, since they don''t have to wear pantaloons or tops and shorts while playing, while their near nakedness yields their clothing edge also unfair?

[oldone60]

I''''ve yet to watch a single competition for these Olympics and just might not watch any this time around or in the future.
Posted by piercetheval at 12:48 AM : Aug 13, 2008
===================
And I care...why?

[guest173]

the olympics should have the same clothing for everyone in the sports. I think it is dishonest to credit Phelps as a great athlete when he and his team are wearing high tech NASA designed swim wear. The original Olympics were in the nude, which would really show individual accomplishment (but that is not decent, they should wear clothing, but it should all be the same). I think the Olympics committee really let the ball drop on that decision to allow just any kind of clothing, it should be the same for everyone. They didn''t have those things 50 years ago, so breaking records with new technology is not fair at all.

[slim1h2o]

"winningest" is now a word?!!

Posted by hypnotoad72 at 12:22 PM : Aug 13, 2008

Always has been, the last time I checked.

[nolalou]

"winningest" is not a word. CBS, CNN and others who use non-words like this are dragging the media downmarket.
Posted by cdfoxtrot2

Sorry, cdfoxtrot2, but Merriam Webster disagrees with you.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/winningest

So I guess you are not the winningest expert on the English Language!

[cdfoxtrot2]

"winningest" is not a word. CBS, CNN and others who use non-words like this are dragging the media downmarket.

[tomanyt]

unmunificent....Thanks for sharing.

[tomanyt]

Michael Phelps is amazing!!!!

[casey0157]

Absolutely incredible! Congrats Phelps on a job so extremely well done!! Millions are proud of you!!

[hypnotoad72]

"winningest" is now a word?!!

[chutpata]

"renojmc: Great job! But the word I hear is that Obama is cheering for the athletes from socialist countries"

Ha Ha. Obama is getting on the nerves of the neo-cons. The dread of Obama is everywhere for them, and they can''t even enjoy the historical moment of an American breaking world record. I hope Obama haunts you in your sleep and you haven''t slep for days.

[andsab]

Ever since I was a little girl I''ve loved the Olympics, I remember how proud I was and still am every time they play our national anthem. We live in the greatest country in the world and I am so proud to be an American. GO USA!!!!!!!

[renojmc]

Great job! But the word I hear is that Obama is cheering for the athletes from socialist countries!

[unmunificent]

Those Chinese girl gymnasts can''t be 16 years old. One girl looks like she''s 11 or 12 years old. My opinion, I think they''re cheating. Our US teams should be very proud! They''re all winners no matter what!