8 Golds: Phelps Makes History

Michael Phelps swam into history today by picking up his 8th gold medal at the Beijing Olympics, NBC reports. Phelps swam the third leg of the men's 4x100 medley—yes, another world record—to trump Mark Spitz's record of 7 medals set more than three decades ago. "I'm more at a loss for words now than I was last night," said Phelps afterward, referring to the microscopic margin of victory in his previous race.

Phelps' teammates in the historic race were Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hansen, and Jason Lezak, whose heroics in race No. 2, another relay, kept Phelps' run alive. Lezak said he got a little extra motivation before the race when he looked into the stands and saw Kobe Bryant and Lebron James. "No way we were going to let those guys down." (More Michael Phelps stories.)