Phenomenal Phelps wins 7th gold by 0.01 seconds to tie Spitz
Associated Press
Updated: August 16, 2008, 5:01 AM ET
BEIJING — His Olympics looking lost, Michael Phelps decided to flap those gangly arms one more time.
Milorad Cavic, inches from spoiling it all, glided along just under the surface, convinced he had won gold.
But it didn’t matter who was fastest. Just first.
Phelps swam into history with a magnificent finish Saturday, tying Mark Spitz with his seventh gold medal by the narrowest of margins in the 100-meter butterfly.
One-hundredth of a second, the time it takes lightning to strike the ground.
Whew!
“Dream as big as you can dream and anything is possible,” Phelps said. “I am sort of in a dream world. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure it is real.”
Call it the Great Haul of China — and it’s not done yet. Phelps has one more race on Sunday, which will likely complete his coronation as the greatest Olympian ever.
Spitz already ceded the title.
Here is the full story.
Here are the current medal standings in order of gold medals, as commenters on this blog seem to prefer:
27 – China
9 – Restofus
8 – Germany
7 – Australia, Great Britain, Japan, Michael Phelps, South Korea
6 – Italy
5 – Russia
4 – Ukraine
3 – France, Slovakia
2 – Czech Republic, Georgia, Romania, Spain
1 – Azerbaijan, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cuba, Ethiopia, Finland, India, Mongolia, New Zealand, North Korea, Norway, Poland, Switzerland, Thailand, Zimbabwe
I watched the duel between Phelps and Cavic. US commentary. Such a pity they did not know how to pronounce Cavic’s name correctly, although the guy was born in the US. Shame on them.
Well, how can they read it properly, if they don’t write it properly?
It is not Cavic, it is Čavić
A big difference as č and ć sound very differently than c.
“It is not Cavic, it is Čavić”
Who cares?? The guy lost to him, and noone will remember him anytime. We remember only the winners, not the losers.