Beijing, Sunday, August 17, 2008 – Michael Phelps won his eight gold medal when his 4x100m medley team touched home first in 3 minutes 29.34 seconds today at the Beijing Olympics. Phelps swam the butterfly leg and when he hit the water, the US were third. When he finished, they were first.

With this win, Phelps overhauled Mark Spitz’s record of seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, a record that stood for 36 years. In all likelihood, it might be another 36 years before another athlete like Phelps comes along.

With 14 gold, Phelps now has the most Olympic gold medals of any athlete. At the 2004 Athens Olympics, he won six gold and two bronze. This gives him a total of 16 medals, still two short of the 18 medals (nine gold) that Larissa Latynina won while competing for the USSR in the 1956, 1960 and 1964 Olympic Games.

Carl Lewis of the United States won nine gold over 12 years but there is controversy over the fact that he tested positive for drugs three times before the 1988 Olympic trials and was reinstated after being let off with a warning.

If Phelps was a country, he would be eight on the medal table, with one more gold medal than Russia.