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After his 2nd gold, Phelps has unfinished business
Agencies
Updated: 2008-08-12 09:34
Michael Phelps is taking care of all unfinished business while he pursues Olympic history. Next up: the 200-meter freestyle, one of two gold medals that eluded him four years ago in Athens.
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Michael Phelps and Garrett Weber-Gale celebrate after the U.S. won the men's 4x100m freestyle relay swimming final at the National Aquatics Center during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 11, 2008. [Agencies]
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The other was the 400 freestyle relay, which was avenged Monday with Phelps getting gold medal No. 2 thanks to an epic comeback by teammate Jason Lezak.
The 32-year-old American chased down Alain Bernard of France over the final 25 meters — half the length of the pool — in a race so fast that two world records were set and the top five teams produced the five speediest times in history.
Now that Phelps has gotten past the grueling 400 individual medley, his first gold of the Beijing Games, and the whisker-close relay, there appears to be no stopping him. Of his remaining events, he holds or shares the world record in four, and will be heavily favored in the other two.
"It's hard to put that kind of race behind you," said Phelps, still savoring being part of a relay team that crushed the world record by nearly 4 seconds. "But it sets me up for something good. The 200 free final, that's my first priority."
Phelps has taken the event and made it his own, snatching away Ian Thorpe's world record during last year's world championships.
He breezed through Monday's semifinals with only the fourth-fastest time, but clearly was saving energy for when it counts Tuesday morning.
"I just went out — I don't want to say I cruised it — but I just swam it," Phelps said. "I just wanted to get into the finals, and that's all I did. It doesn't matter until the finals. As long as you have a lane, it doesn't matter where you are."
He certainly wasn't holding anything back in the 400 free relay, swimming the leadoff leg in an American-record time. But if he does go on to win eight golds and collect a promised $1 million bonus from one of his sponsors, he might want to give some of it to Lezak.
