Phelps Ties Spitz With 7 Golds

Swimmer inspired America to love the games again

(NEWSER) - If the Chinese invented organized sports 6,000 years ago, writes Pat Forde on ESPN.com, then how appropriate that Michael Phelps came to Beijing to prove he was “the apotheosis of the athlete.” And America knows it. In a year when the Olympics had become “passe,” tens of millions of enthusiastic Americans rooted for Phelps in a way not seen since the Miracle on Ice. He “single-handedly saved the Olympics,” Forde writes. More»

Swimmer smashes 200-meter freestyle record, matches Spitz in career medals

(NEWSER) - Michael Phelps racked a third gold medal today, this one in the 200-meter freestyle, and obliterated another world record in the process. His time of 1:42.96 seconds shaved nearly a full second off his previous best, reports the Baltimore Sun. The gold, his ninth overall, ties him with Mark Spitz and three others as the winningest Olympians. More»

1972 Olympic champ stays gracious after record falls to Phelps

(NEWSER) - Outspoken and prickly in the best of times, Mark Spitz is slowly adjusting to being the second-greatest Olympian of all time, the Wall Street Journal reports. Mustering a little grace for the occasion, Spitz says he's relieved at the downgrade. "He's got the burden of inspiring the youth as they go forward," Spitz says. "That is a relief." More»

Golden-boy swimmers are only similar in the pool

(NEWSER) - Michael Phelps has passed Mark Spitz's record number of career gold medals, and is dead set on eclipsing the seven golds Spitz won in Munich in 1972. But apart from their metal preferences the two men are very different people, observes the New York Times. The detached Spitz matched his talent with cockiness that annoyed teammates and was accused of mind games—while Phelps is sociable and popular. More»

(NEWSER) - Records fell at the Olympic trials in Omaha yesterday as both Michael Phelps and Katie Hoff triumphed in the 400 IM, USA Today reports. Each swimmer had a personal motivation: Phelps took almost a second of his own world record, and Hoff recaptured the record from Stephanie Rice. More»