Ph el ps e qu al s Sp it z' s seven g ol ds B BC

Pa ge l ast upda ted at 06:53 GMT, Saturday, 16 August 2008 07:53 UK

Swim ming su per sta r Mic ha el P hel ps m atched M ar k

Spi tz's 1 97 2 Mu nic h Gam es r ec or d of se ven go ld

me dals by win ning a thr illing 10 0m b ut te rfl y fin al.

Phelps, 23, w as se venth a t the tur n but s tor med bac k

to edge out S erbia 's Milor ad Ca vic by just one
hundr edth o f a second in a time of 50.58 seconds.

Serbia lodged a complaint a gainst the r esult but the

American 's win w as subsequent l y confir med by
of ficials.

Phelps is seeking a r ecor d eighth gold medal in

Sunday's 4x100m medley final.

He had alr eady w on the 400m medley , 200m fr eest yle,

200m butte rfl y, 4x100m fr ee r elay , 4x200m fr ee r elay
and the 200m medley , all in w or ld r ecor d time.

And w hile his victo r y in the 100m f l y w as not a w or ld

recor d, it w as a new Ol ympic r ecor d after making up a
deficit of mor e than half a second in the f inal length.
Lik e a pair of hea vyw eight s bef or e a title bout, Ca vic
and Phelps tried to star e eac h other out on the
sta r ting bloc ks.

And Ca vic's self-belief and f er ocious e f for t meant

Phelps tr ailed his rival with just 10m to go .

It look ed as if Phelps's incr edible bid to equal Spitz's

recor d w as o ver but the American tur ned on the po wer
and, as Ca vic r eac hed f or the w all, gambled with one
mor e s tr ok e.

"I actuall y thought I had lost the r ace right ther e, but
I guess tha t w as the di f fer ence in the end," said
Phelps, w ho pounded the w ater in triumph and
scr eamed with delight a fter c hec king the r esult on the
scor eboar d.

"W hen I saw the 50.58 and the 50.59 and I saw the '1'
ne xt to my name, tha t' s w hen I let my r oar out.

"I r eall y don't kno w w ha t to say . I guess I'v e had the

perf ect situa tions all w eek.

"I w as shoc ked a t the end, it w as kind of a little bit of

a delay ed r eaction.

"I f eel a little bit of e ver ything - r elief , e xcitement,

ever ything. I had to tak e my gog gles of f to mak e sur e
the '1' w as ne xt to my name.

"I just h ave one r ace left, the r elay , and then it's done.

"T ying Spitz's r ecor d is pr ett y cool. It's g rea t to be a

par t o f all of this."
Spitz himself , no w 58, had nothing but pr aise f or
Phelps's ac hie vement.

"Not onl y is this guy the g rea te st s wimmer of all time

and the g rea test Ol ympian of all time, he's maybe the
g rea te st a thlete o f all time," said Spitz.

Ca vic lost out on the final str ok e but ther e w as a

feeling ar ound the W ater Cube tha t of ficials had been
too qui ck to aw ar d the gold to the American.

But r ace r ef er ee Ben Ekumbo said: "Under our r ules

we do listen to pr otes ts. W e look ed a t video f oota ge
and it w as v er y c lear the Serbian s wimmer touc hed
second, a fter P helps. One w as str oking and one w as
gliding.

"T wo independent timing s ystem s sho wed e xactl y the

same on the time. Phelps w as 50.58, Ca vic w as 50.59.

"T he automa tic timing sys tems ar e in per fect or der

and ther e ar e no doubts."

Ekumbo ad ded: "Although the r ules don't allo w f or

team leader s to w atc h the video f oota ge I had a
meeting with the Serbia team leader s to af for d them
the oppor tunity to see the video themselv es because
we don't w ant them to go aw ay f eeling something is
lost.

"T he Serbian team w er e v er y sa ti sfied and a g reed

with the comments o f the r efer ee."

Ekumbo also st ressed ther e w as ne ver any danger of

Phelps losing his gold medal.
"Mic hael Phelps is the g rea tes t e ver and he w ould
ha ve been fir st in this r ace any ho w. T he question w as
whethe r to shar e (the gold medal ) or not to shar e," he
said.

"But w ha t the r efer ee saw w as v er y c lear . T her e w as

no doubt w ha tsoe ver, the fir st ar ri val w as Mic hael
Phelps."

Ca vic himself said he w as ha pp y with the r esult

despite the contr over sy sur rounding the f inish.

"I'm stok ed with w ha t ha ppened," Ca vic said.

"I don't w ant to fight this. P eople will be bringing this

up f or y ear s and saying y ou w on tha t r ace. I f w e got to
do this a gain, I w ould win it.

"I am not ang r y. I knew it w ould be a f as t r ace, and I

knew Mic hael w ould be f ast.

"I knew he w ould be coming a t me, ther e w as no need

to look o ver to tr y and see him, I saw his shado w
coming in my gog gles."

Ca vic w atc hed the r eplay ad ding: " It 's kind of har d to
see.

"I kno w I had a long f inish and Mic hael Phelps had a
shor t finish."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olympics/swimming/7564656.stm