Just when you think Phelps’ run can’t get any better, it does
By Pat Forde
ESPN.com
BEIJING — Michael Phelps was in trouble.
Big trouble.
Churning desperately to the wall in the 100-meter butterfly Saturday, chasing Milorad Cavic and an historic seventh gold medal in these Olympics, Phelps was in that worst of all places for a butterflyer approaching the finish:
No man’s land.
His strokes had not timed out in this most rhythmic of all swimming disciplines, and now Phelps was left with two bad alternatives.
He could ride his last full stroke to the wall — gliding in.
Or he could recoil and throw his arms forward one more time — chopping the wall, as they say in swimming.
Either way, you usually lose an airtight butterfly race with a mistimed finish.
Unless you’re Michael Phelps. Who never loses. Even when the naked eye tricks you into believing he did.
The naked eye said he lost. The naked eye said the bid to win eight gold medals had stopped in a stunning upset at the hands of Cavic — a previously anonymous Californian swimming for Serbia, and doing a splendid impersonation of Buster Douglas in a Speedo. The naked eye said the most captivating Olympic story line since the Miracle on Ice had been scuttled.
Do you believe in heartbreak?
No.
Believe in The Closer, the guy who now has won two Olympic golds in this event over four years by a combined five-hundredths of a second. Believe in Phelps. Don’t ask how he does it, because sometimes there are no rational explanations. Just believe.
The scoreboard showed a result that shocked everyone in the Water Cube, and probably most of the rest of planet Earth. Phelps had done it, by the smallest unit of measurement in swimming — a single hundredth of a second.
Phelps: 50.58.
Cavic: 50.59.
The immense historical achievement of tying Mark Spitz’s Olympic record for most gold medals in a single Games suddenly was an afterthought. The breathtakingly dramatic nature of this single race obscured everything else.
Here is the full story.
• Race No. 1 — 400-meter IM: Phelps kept pace with teammate Ryan Lochte and László Cseh in his weakest discipline, the breaststroke, before putting the hammer down in the freestyle to win his first gold of the Games. Story | Forde’s take
• Race No. 2 — 4×100 free relay: Phelps almost saw his run end, but Jason Lezak came back in the final leg to help the U.S. men edge France to win gold in one of the most memorable relay races in Olympic history. Story | Forde’s take
• Race No. 3 — 200 freestyle: Phelps easily won his third gold of the Games and ninth of his career in one of his strongest events. He also broke his own world record (1:42.96). Story | Caple’s take
• Race No. 4 — 200 butterfly: It wasn’t even close, folks. Phelps controlled the race from the beginning to win, breaking his own world record and becoming the most decorated gold medalist in Olympic history. Story | Forde’s take
• Race No. 5 — 4×200 free relay: Phelps chose to swim the first leg of the relay and immediately set the tone. By the time Peter Vanderkaay swam the anchor leg, the Americans held a five-body-length lead. Story | Forde’s take
• Race No. 6 — 200 individual medley: Phelps dominated right from the start of the 200 IM and powered away to win in 1:54.23, another world record. Less than an hour later, Phelps won his 100 butterfly qualifier. Story | Forde’s take
• Race No. 7 — 100 butterfly: Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better … Phelps beat Milorad Cavic by a hundredth of a second to win the 100 fly and match Mark Spitz’s record of seven golds in the same Games. Story | Forde’s take
• Race No. 8 — 4×100 medley relay: Sunday morning Beijing time, Saturday night in the U.S.
Purely the greatest athlete.