It took Michael Phelps eight days to win eight gold medals.
It took him eight days at the Water Cube in Beijing to achieve immortality in sports.
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Phelps, now 23, concluded one of the most remarkable performances in Olympic history this morning when he won his eighth gold medal at the Beijing Games, breaking the record of seven set by the legendary Mark Spitz in Munich in 1972.
“I think it really shows that no matter what you set your imagination to, anything can happen,” he said. “Dream as big as you can dream and anything is possible.”
Phelps swam the third leg, butterfly, on the United States’ 400-meter medley relay team, which took the gold in a world-record time of 3 minutes 29.34 seconds. In his eight races — five individual and three relays — Phelps set seven world records and one Olympic record.
Australia, considered a threat to thwart Phelps’ gold-medal haul, won the silver medal in 3:30.04.
“We could literally go a few hundred years before we see this again,” said Garrett Weber-Gale, a native of Fox Point, Wis., who helped Phelps win gold in two relays. “I mean, that’s no joke.
“With the kind of talent and environment we’re in right now in swimming, we might never see someone else win eight gold medals, or even come close to that. I don’t think right now we realize how special that is.”
With a prime-time NBC television audience tuned in each night last week, Phelps not only was the star of the show, he was luminescent as he smashed one world record after another and left a string of awe-struck swimmers in his wake.
“The guy’s the best the sport has ever seen, the best the Olympics has ever seen,” said Milorad Cavic, the Serbian who gave Phelps a scare in the 100 butterfly.
Laszlo Cseh of Hungary, who won three silver medals that would have been gold if not for Phelps, said simply, “Michael is unbeatable.”
But is he the greatest Olympian of all time?
Is he the greatest Olympian of all time?
You can't answer that question before defining what it means to be "the greatest."
Based on Phelps' total gold medal count and his accomplishment of the feat of winning eight golds at a single Olympics, one certainly could, and perhaps should, come to that conclusion.
In the history of the Olympics, no one has done what he did.
It took 36 years for an Olympic athlete to break Mark Spitz's record. It seems impossible to think that any athlete could surpass Phelps' record-breaking achievement.
There are so many variables. Everything has to come together perfectly.
Phelps won the gold in the 100m butterfly by one hundredth of a second. He's the greatest because he touched the wall .01 faster than Milorad Cavic. Without that .01, he wouldn't have surpassed Mark Spitz; but Phelps did get the .01 that he needed.
He's also the greatest because of his teammates. Three of his golds in Beijing were relays. Without his teammates, Phelps wouldn't have the title of "the greatest."
"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 understands that he owes his place in the history of the Olympics and sports history and just history to his teammates.
Their achievements shouldn't be forgotten. As great as Phelps is as an individual, he wouldn't be basking in glory if it hadn't been for a group of extremely talented swimmers.
..."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."
Everything was perfect.
Everything did fall into place.
Phelps is the greatest, thanks to more than a little helps from his friends.
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Watch the 4x100m medley relay.
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