OLYMPICS / Other Teams

Day 9 Roundup: Phelps wins 8th gold, China surpasses Athens haul

Xinhua/Agencies
Updated: 2008-08-18 01:05

 

Combination of eight pictures done on August 17, 2008 showing Michael Phelps of the US displaying the eight gold medals he won at the swimming events during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. From L to R, top row : men's 4 x 100m medley on August 17, 100m butterfly on August 16, men's 200m individual medley on August 15 and men's 4 x 200m freestyle relay on August 13. From L to R, bottom row : men's 200m butterfly on August 13, men's 200m freestyle on August 12, men's 4X100m freestyle relay on August 11 and men's 400m individual medley on August 10.[Agencies]

BEIJING--American swimmer Michael Phelps broke Mark Spitz's record of gold medals in a single Olympics, set in Munich in 1972, while Shelly-Ann Fraser led a Jamaican sweep of medals in the women's 100m at the Beijing Games on Sunday.

Fraser clocked 10.78 seconds to win the blue-ribbon event, a day after compatriot Usain Bolt taking the men's 100m title in a world record time of 10.69 seconds.

Jamaica's gold medalist Shelly-Ann Frazer (L), Jamaica's silver medalist Sherone Simpson (R) and Jamaica's bronze medalist Kerron Stewart celebrate after the women's 100m final at the National Stadium as part of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games on August 17, 2008. Fraser led a historic Jamaican sweep of the Olympic women's 100m here on Sunday, finishing ahead of compatriots Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart, who dead-heated for silver. [Agencies] More photos

Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart, both also from the Caribbean island nation, shared silver in 10.98 after a photo finish couldn't tell.

"Last night was amazing, it was crazy. I was inspired by Usain and Asafa (Powell, fifth in men's 100m)," said Fraser.

Phelps rounded out his eight-gold quest, which was perceived by many as "A Mission Impossible", when the U.S. team won the men's 4x100m medley relay in a world-record of 3 minutes, 29.34 seconds Sunday, lowering the old mark of 3:30.68 set four years ago in Athens.

The American quartet also included Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hansen and Jason Lezak.

Along with the six golds he won in Athens in 2004, the 23-year-old Phelps has the most gold medals overall in Olympic history - 14, far ahead of legends Spitz, Carl Lewis, Paavo Nurmi and Larysa Latnina, who won nine Olympic golds each in their career.

"Nothing is impossible. With so many people saying it couldn't be done, all it takes is an imagination, and that's something I learned and something that helped me," said Phelps.

What made Phelps' feat even more marvelous was the fact that seven world records were set or shared by him in the process.

"I literally wanted to do something that no one's ever done before in this sport. Without the help of my teammates it wouldn't have been possible," he said.

Despite Phelps' achievement, the U.S. is lagging behind China in the ballyhooed race to pocket the most Olympic golds in Beijing.  At the end of Day 9, China has garnered 35 gold medals, three more than its total haul in Athens four years ago, while the Americans had only 19 golds.

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