Olympics: Michael Phelps wins two more golds as records tumble

Perhaps it was the weight of history on his shoulders, as well as a faulty pair of goggles, that caused Michael Phelps to appear relatively mortal yesterday. For a man who duly collected his fourth and fifth gold medals of these Olympics, making him the most decorated individual athlete in the history of the modern Games, he looked strangely uncomfortable at times, as if suddenly realising the mantle he has assumed. He still swims like a god but his Herculean labours are starting to take their toll.

Phelps also began the most auspicious day of his life in a manner familiar to any club swimmer when his goggles filled up with water and he was forced to navigate a large chunk of the 200m butterfly, one of his “banker” events, virtually blind. That he still won in a world record time of 1:52.03 tells you much about the 23-year-old from Baltimore, an ordinary guy with a truly extraordinary talent. He now has 11 Olympic golds in the bag with the potential to add another three, placing Mark Spitz’s 1972 tally of seven golds in single Games under increasing threat.

It has been a relentless story of morning glory ever since his first final last Sunday during which Phelps, and others, have exploded the myth that swimmers swim faster in the evenings. There were six more world records in today’s opening session, four of them in the first 20 minutes, including the first sub-seven minute men’s 4×200 relay in history by an American team who were given a flying start by the ubiquitous Phelps. There is a sense Phelps gains more enjoyment from winning team titles than stockpiling individual ones which, if so, merely fuels his legend.

Nor is it his fault that one man winning so many races and seemingly breaking records at will can become faintly monotonous. Tiger Woods and Roger Federer are occasionally victims of the same syndrome but the Olympics are no place for those who regard winning as a chore. Phelps’ raised-arm podium salute, palms outstretched to the world, is totally familiar now and even his friends are starting to get blase. “It’s ridiculous how many times I’ve got to see your ugly face,” read a text from a friend shortly before he headed for the Water Cube.

There is no immediate respite in sight, either. His next medal is due to arrive on Friday in the final of the 200m individual medley, with the 100m butterfly and 4x100m medley relay to follow at the weekend. It has already reached the point where the entire poolside audience, not to mention the millions watching at home, confidently expect him to cruise away even when he is not at full bore. In the 200m butterfly, an event he has dominated since 2001, there is now a complete sense of inevitability which made it all the more startling when an unheralded Kiwi named Moss Burmester shot into an early lead like a waterborne Joe Rokocoko. He could not quite sustain it, eventually finishing fourth, but Phelps was pressed hard enough by Laszlo Cseh of Hungary and Japan’s Takeshi Matsuda to give his family visible palpitations up in the stands.

Watching the great man hit the wall for the umpteenth time in China, however, even the locals could not fail to salute the magnitude of his achievement. Anyone who can outstrip Carl Lewis, Spitz, Larisa Latynina and Paavo Nurmi as the most prolific Olympic gold medallist of all time bears comparison with the greats in any sport at any time and, belatedly, Phelps seems to be realising it. “I think I’m almost lost for words,” he stuttered. “To be the most decorated Olympian of all time … it just sounds weird saying it. It started sinking in a little bit after the butterfly … it’s a pretty cool title.”

Even so, he could not totally hide his disappointment at his untimely “goggle malfunction” which he felt had significantly handicapped him. “When my goggles filled I knew there was nothing I could do…I just had to swim. I tried to see something but I was more or less counting strokes. I know I can go faster than that … it does disappoint me.” Having encountered such a hiccup, he is not about to predict that a haul of eight medals is now a virtual certainty. “I’m not unbeatable … everyone can be beaten,” he insisted, contrary to the available evidence.

What is beyond doubt is that more world records will be broken here before they pack the blocks away on Sunday. There were successive world best times set in both heats of the men’s 100m freestyle courtesy of France’s Alain Bernard and Australia’s Eamon Sullivan, Italy’s Federica Pellegrini did likewise in the women’s 200m freestyle and Stephanie Rice, Australia’s latest pool heroine, added the 200m individual medley world record to her growing portfolio.