Michael Phelps won his eighth Olympic gold medal of the Beijing Games to beat Mark Spitz’s 1972 record of seven, with victory in the 4×100m medley.

The 23-year-old American teamed up with Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hansen and Jason Lezak to claim the historic gold in a new world record time.

They held off Australia and Japan to claim glory in a world record time of three minutes 29.34 seconds. Great Britain’s quartet finished back in sixth place. Phelps had already won the 400m medley, 200m freestyle, 200m butterfly, 4×100m free relay, 4×200m free relay, 200m medley and the 100m buttefly.

It also took his Olympic medal haul to 14 golds and 16 overall. Victory in the 4×100m relay rounded off a remarkable Olympics for Phelps who has dominated the action in the Water Cube, also setting seven world records. But Sunday’s relay victory was far from starightforward with Lezak on the last lap pushed all the way by Australian Eamon Sullivan who narrowly missed out on spoling the Phelps party. Phelps admitted to being overwhelmed after achieving his feat, and was quick to pay tribute to his US team-mates. “I don’t even know what to feel right now,” Phelps said. “There’s so much emotions going through my head and so much excitement. I kind of just want to see my mom. [BBC NEWS]

Swimming superstar Michael Phelps matched Mark Spitz’s 1972 Munich Games record of seven gold medals by winning a thrilling 100m butterfly final in Beijing Olympics 2008.

Phelps, 23, was seventh at the turn but stormed back to edge out Serbia’s Milorad Cavic by just one hundredth of a second in a time of 50.58 seconds.

Serbia lodged a complaint against the result but the American’s win was subsequently confirmed by officials. Phelps is seeking a record eighth gold medal in Sunday’s 4×100m medley final. He had already won the 400m medley, 200m freestyle, 200m butterfly, 4×100m free relay, 4×200m free relay and the 200m medley, all in world record time. I feel a little bit of everything - relief, excitement, everything. And while his victory in the 100m fly was not a world record, it was a new Olympic record after making up a deficit of more than half a second in the final length. Like a pair of heavyweights before a title bout, Cavic and Phelps tried to stare each other out on the starting blocks. And Cavic’s self-belief and ferocious effort meant Phelps trailed his rival with just 10m to go.

It looked as if Phelps’s incredible bid to equal Spitz’s record was over but the American turned on the power and, as Cavic reached for the wall, gambled with one more stroke. “I actually thought I had lost the race right there, but I guess that was the difference in the end,” said Phelps, who pounded the water in triumph and screamed with delight after checking the result on the scoreboard. “When I saw the 50.58 and the 50.59 and I saw the ‘1′ next to my name, that’s when I let my roar out. “I really don’t know what to say. I guess I’ve had the perfect situations all week. “I was shocked at the end, it was kind of a little bit of a delayed reaction. “I feel a little bit of everything - relief, excitement, everything. I had to take my goggles off to make sure the ‘1′ was next to my name.

“I just have one race left, the relay, and then it’s done. “Tying Spitz’s record is pretty cool. It’s great to be a part of all of this.” Spitz himself, now 58, had nothing but praise for Phelps’s achievement. “Not only is this guy the greatest swimmer of all time and the greatest Olympian of all time, he’s maybe the greatest athlete of all time,” said Spitz. Cavic lost out on the final stroke but there was a feeling around the Water Cube that officials had been too quick to award the gold to the American. But race referee Ben Ekumbo said: “Under our rules we do listen to protests. We looked at video footage and it was very clear the Serbian swimmer touched second, after Phelps. One was stroking and one was gliding. “Two independent timing systems showed exactly the same on the time. Phelps was 50.58, Cavic was 50.59. “The automatic timing systems are in perfect order and there are no doubts.” [BBC NEWS]

Swimming superstar Michael Phelps won his sixth gold medal of the Beijing 2008 Games, breaking his own world record in the 200m individual medley.

The American won in a time of 1min 54.23secs, shaving 0.57secs off his previous best set in July and setting his sixth world record of the Games.

Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh took silver and Ryan Lochte of the US won bronze. Britain’s finalists missed out on the medal spots with James Goddard ending up sixth and Liam Tancock eighth. Phelps, who is chasing an unprecedented eight gold medals in Beijing, now has 12 career Olympic golds to his name.

He led from the start of the race and finished strongly on his favoured freestyle leg, 2.29secs ahead of Cseh in second. Lochte held on for third despite having raced just half an hour earlier, when he broke the world record to take the men’s 200m backstroke title. Phelps, 23, the dominant story of the Beijing Olympics, has now won the 400m medley, 200m freestyle, 200m butterfly, 4×100m free relay, 4×200m free relay and now the 200m medley, all in world record time. But he showed little reaction apart from a quick shake of his fist after his latest victory. He is now closing in on Mark Spitz’s 1972 record of seven golds at a single Games.

Moments after receiving his medal for winning the 200m medley Phelps returned to the pool for the semi-final of the 100m fly, winning in a time of 50.97secs. “I switched from my dress sweats to my parka, shoes, threw my cap and goggles on and then they pushed us on out. No time,” he said. “The medal was in my warm-up jacket.” He added: “There wasn’t much time but I think there’s going to be a lot of time for me to rest over the next 18 hours or so, and I’ll be able to be ready for tomorrow morning’s 100.” His main rivals in that final will be Milorad Cavic of Serbia and US team-mate and world record holder, Ian Crocker. [BBC NEWS]