US Freestyle Team Grabs Gold by a Fingertip

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 balanced domination with near-misses

(NEWSER) - Michael Phelps’ quest for eight gold medals was a perfect sports story for America: we like our athletes to either dominate or come from behind at the last minute, and Phelps delivered on both counts. He was both “the juggernaut and the ninth-inning home run with two outs and two strikes,” writes Mike Lopresti in USA Today—and that made him “the most compelling figure to slice through water since Jaws.” 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»

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»

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»