Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Sports News

Phelps reaches 11 golds with two wins

|
|
 
  
USA swimmer Michael Phelps holds his gold medal after winning the men's 200M Butterfly swimming final in a world record time of 1:52.03, during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at the National Aquatics Center August 13, 2008. (UPI Photo/Stephen Shaver) 
License photo
Published: Aug. 13, 2008 at 12:21 AM

BEIJING, Aug. 13 (UPI) -- Michael Phelps moved to the first page of the Olympic history book Wednesday and passed the halfway point in his bid to set a record that might never be broken.

The seemingly unbeatable American swimmer collected two gold medals in the space of an hour, running his total for the Beijing Games to five and his career collection to 11.

No one in the history of the Olympics has won more gold medals than Phelps.

He is scheduled to swim in three more finals and if he wins them all, his eight gold medals in China would break the single-Olympic record set by Mark Spitz 36 years ago.

Given the current structure of the various Olympic competitions, it would be virtually impossible for anyone to do better.

Phelps first captured the 200-meter butterfly by breaking the world record for the seventh time and then came back to lead off the American 800-meter freestyle team that also included Ryan Lochte, Ricky Berens and Peter Vanderkaay. That foursome became the first ever to swim the distance in less than seven minutes -- turning in a 6:58.56.

In the other events Wednesday, Australia's Stephanie Rice won her second gold of the Olympics in the 200-meter individual medley and Italian Federica Pellegrini captured the 200-meter freestyle.

The next final for Phelps will come Friday in the 200-meter individual medley. He will compete in the 100-meter butterfly Saturday and then swim on the 400-meter medley relay team Sunday.

Topics: Ricky Berens
© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
Linsanity The Daytona 500 Cheerleaders of 2012
Additional Sports News Stories
1 of 27
Snigdha Nandipati of San Diego wins Finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee
View Caption
Snigdha Nandipati of San Diego, California watches confetti rain down as she wins the two-day Scripps National Spelling Bee championship, May 31, 2012, in National Harbor, Maryland. Nandipati successfully spelled the word .* guetapens *, meaning to lure or ambush. UPI/Mike Theiler
fark
One advantage of going sleep drunk
Chicago Fark Party - 9 June - New bat time, new bat channel
Noted astrophysicist, theoretical astronomer, and Wu-Tang rapper GZA working on new Space-themed...
Photoshop theme: If FOX News was actually fair and balanced
Meanwhile, in Prussia
Best. School absence note. Ever