Phelps becomes leading Olympian as world records tumble (1st Lead)

By Peter Auf der Heyde Aug 13, 2008, 3:52 GMT

Beijing - Michael Phelps on Wednesday rewrote the Olympic record books when he won his 10th and 11th gold medal - in another awesome session featuring six world records.

Fittingly the American superstar became the overall all-time leading Olympian in a world record time in the men's 200m butterfly and then also led the US 4x200m relay team into a new dimension in the sport.

Phelps' 11th gold medal lifted him two clear at the top of the all-time list, past Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina, Finnish athlete Paavo Nurmi, US swimmer Mark Spitz and US athlete Carl Lewis, who have nine gold medals each.

Phelps won six golds 2004 in Athens and has five golds in Beijing from as many races contested there. He is set to compete in three more races at the Games eyeing an unprecedented eight golds at one Games.

His time of 1 minute 52.03 seconds in the 200m butterfly was six hundredth faster than his record established at the world championships in Melbourne last year.

It was Phelps' 25th career world record.

Hungarian Laszlo Cseh was second with a European record 1:52.70, while Japan's Takeshi Matsuda took the bronze in 1:52.97.

New Zealand's Moss Burmester, who was lying first or second until the final turn-over, finished joint fourth with Wu Peng.

Phelps said that he had some troubles in the race.

'I couldn't see anything for the last 100 metres, my goggles pretty much filled up with water, it just kept getting worse and worse through the race.

'I was having trouble seeing the walls to be honest. But it's fine, I wanted to break the record. I wanted to go 1:51 or better, but for the circumstances I guess it's not too bad.'

Less than an hour after winning the butterfly event, Phelps helped the US 4x200m freestyle relay team become the first team to swim under seven minutes as they took an astonishing 4.68 seconds off their own world record set in Melbourne at the world championships last year.

The US won in a time of 6:58.56, while Russia took silver in 7:03.70. Australia was third in 7:04.98.

Stephanie Rice of Australia got gold in the women's 200m medley when she just managed to push past Zimbabwean Kirsty Coventry on the final metres. The two had already finished in the same order in the 400m IM.

Rice clocked 2:08.45 minutes Coventry got silver in 2:08.59 which was also faster than Rice' previous world record 2:08.92 from March.

The bronze medal went to Natalie Coughlin of the US in a time of 2:10.34.

Earlier in the session, Federica Pellegrini won the women's 200m freestyle gold with another world record-breaking time. The Italian bettered her record of 1:55.45 from the semi-finals to 1:54.82.

Slovenian Sara Isakovic won an unlikely first-ever swimming medal for her country as she took silver, 0.15 off the pace, while Pang Yiaying was a popular bronze medal winner for the hosts in a time 1:55.05 as all three medallists were faster then the old record.

American favourite Katie Hoff had to be content with fourth place in 1:55.78.

Isakovic said that she had never expected to medal.

'It's amazing. It's the first medal for Slovenia swimming, so it's great for my country. It's a fantastic time and I never expected it in my wildest dreams. I am going to celebrate with my family and the rest of my team.'

The morning session began with a bang as Frenchman Alain Bernard took back the 100m freestyle world record he had lost two days earlier to Australian Eamon Sullivan. Bernard's time of 47.20 in the semis shaved 0.04 off Sullivan's record.

The Australian countered in the next semi-final, when he swam a 47.05 to reclaim the record.

Bernard said he was not surprised that Sullivan had countered so fast.

'It is a high-level competition, so it's normal. The most important thing is the final tomorrow,' he said.

In the women's 200m butterfly semis Liu Ziege and Jiao Liuyang had the first and third-fastest time respectively, with Jessicah Schipper pushing in between them. Liu had a time of 2:06.25.

In the men's 200m breaststroke Japan's Kosuke Kitajima broke the Olympic record that Hungarian Daniel Gyurta had set on Tuesday. Kitajima swam 2:08.61, taking 0.07 off the old record. Canadian Mike Andrew Brown had the second-fastest time with 2:08.84.

There was disappointment for American Eric Shanteau, who was diagnosed with testicular cancer shortly before the US trials, as he went out with the 10th time.