Superfish Phelps hits 6-in-6 all in fastest time in history
15/8/2008 16:57
Michael Phelps has never missed a chance to win gold in the Water Cube.
The American superfish unsurprisingly took his sixth gold in men's 200m
individual medley in Beijing today along with a sixth world record in a
row.
Phelps met no challenge at all as he led the race since jumping into the
water and updated his own world record to one minute 54.23 seconds at leisure.
It's the eight time he broke the world record of the event since
2003.
Hungarian versatile swimmer Laszlo Cseh and Phelps' teammate Ryan
Lochte managed to trail behind the wunderkind, but had to settle for second and
third again as they did in the 400m individual medley final on Sunday.
"I
just wanted to step on it in the first 50 (meters) a little bit and try and get
out to an early lead. I knew that was a hard double for Ryan. I knew, in the
first half if I got a big enough lead I thought I could hang on and that's all I
wanted to do."
Cseh's silver medal winning time is 1:56.52, only 0.01 second
ahead of the 23-year-old Lochte, who has just tasted a sensational win 30
minutes ago in the men's 200m backstroke final by dethroning teammate Aaron
Peirsol under world record pace.
Lochte followed Phelps to take the silver in
the event both at Athens Olympics and last year's World Championships. But the
laidback talent has never wished that Phelps was not competing in his
events.
"If he wasn't in this sport and swimming, I don't think I'd be as
good. He is up there and he makes me become better and stronger in training.
Without him I wouldn't be standing today. I think I push him as well."
Phelps
became the most successful Olympian in history with 11 gold medals after
victories in the 200m butterfly and 4x200m freestyle relay finals on
Wednesday.
Now, the superfish has added six to the six gold medals he won in
Athens and overtaken Mark Spitz, Carl Lewis, Paavo Nurmi and Larysa Latynina,
who won nine Olympic golds each in their career.
Phelps' quest of eight gold
medals in Beijing continued well as he cruised into the final of the men's 100m
butterfly final for swimming the second fastest qualifying time in the
semifinals just minutes after the medal ceremony of the 200m individual
medley.
"I had literally five minutes in between the awards ceremony ending
and switching to my race stuff, putting my cap on and marching straight out.
There was no time. Now I've got a lot of time to rest. I've got 18 hours to get
ready for tomorrow," said Phelps.
"It was definitely a tough race, with
Milorad and Ian having great races," said Phelps. "Hopefully I'll be able to
stay closer in the first 50 (meters) than yesterday to Milorad. If I'm there at
the 50 (meters), I'll be there at the end."
Serbian Milorad Cavic advanced
into the final with the fastest qualifying time of 50.92 seconds as world record
holder Ian Crocker from the United States trailed him in the same semi in 51.27
seconds.
The 24-year-old Cavic updated the Olympic record to 50.76 seconds in
yesterday's heats while Phelps finished behind him in next lane.
Xinhua
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