8–1) Eight Golden Days in Beijing
Didn't purchase the Greatest Olympic Champion commemorative DVD? Here's a race-by-race recap of Phelps's extraordinary run in Beijing.
August 17
8) 4 x 100 Medley Relay
THE THREAT: After two legs, the backstroke and breaststroke, Phelps found himself in third position as he started the third leg. His strong butterfly leg put the team back in first place, setting the stage for their freestyle relay star, Lezak, who brought the team in first and with a world record. Phelps became the first athlete to win eight gold medals in one Olympics.
August 16
7) 100 Butterfly
THE THREAT: Serbian swimmer Milorad Cavic told press that Phelps losing the event would be a good thing for swimming. Nearing the wall, Cavic extended his arms and glided toward the touch pad. Phelps, instead of gliding, decided to take a furious last-second half stroke—which, it turned out, was imperceptibly faster. He won gold by 0.01 second—the smallest margin of victory in swimming. Phelps tied Olympic legend Mark Spitz's record seven gold medals, the most won in any Olympic Games at the time.
August 15
6) 200 Individual Medley
THE THREAT: Phelps had about seven minutes between the 200 IM medal ceremony and the semifinals for the 100 butterfly, which left him no time to rest. The medal was still in his warm-up jacket as he qualified second in the 100 butterfly semis.
August 13
5) 4 x 200 Freestyle Relay
THE THREAT: Zilch. Phelps and company became the first team to break the seven-minute barrier.
August 14
NO FINALS TODAY
August 13
4) 200 Butterfly
THE THREAT: Phelps's goggles began to pool up immediately upon entering the water. With 75 meters to go, he could make out neither the wall for the turn nor the finish. Phelps remained calm, counted his strokes, and captured another gold.
August 12
3) 200 Freestyle
THE THREAT: None. Phelps beat second place by nearly two seconds.
August 11
2) 4 x 100 Freestyle Relay
THE THREAT: The French talked trash—and nearly backed it up. A quarter of the way through the last leg, Phelps's teammate Jason Lezak, the U.S.'s anchor-leg swimmer, found himself nearly an entire body length behind French swimmer Alain Bernard. In the last 25 meters, Lezak drafted off Bernard, who was swimming in an adjacent lane, and pulled off one of the greatest comebacks
in the sport's history, beating Bernard by 0.08 second.
August 10
1) 400 Individual Medley
THE THREAT: At the 200-meter mark, all three top swimmers were neck and neck. Then Phelps surged ahead in the freestyle leg and won handily.
