Phelps, Hoff Smash Records in Omaha

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»

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»

(AP) - Michael Phelps beat Milorad Cavic of Serbia by the thinnest of margins to win the 100-meter butterfly yesterday, tying Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals at a single Olympics. Phelps, seemingly destined for second at the finish, somehow touched the wall first, a scant .01 seconds ahead of Cavic. The Serb's coach filed a protest, but the judges ruled that the cameras didn't lie: Phelps won. 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»

Swimmer loses top time in backstroke, for only one heat

(NEWSER) - The US Olympic swim trials in Omaha, Neb., today looked more like a final in Beijing, as Hayley McGregory took the 100-meter backstroke world record from Natalie Coughlin—who promptly took it back, the Los Angeles Times reports. McGregory swam it in 59.15 seconds, and Coughlin stroked it in 59.03 in the next heat. "I really didn't want her to have it for very long," Coughlin said. More»