The US’ Michael Phelps won a record-equalling seventh gold medal at the Beijing Games yesterday with a breathtaking victory in the men’s 100m butterfly.
Phelps, seventh at the turn, won by one-hundredth of a second over a stunned Milorad Cavic of Serbia.
Even Phelps, who clocked 50.58, admitted he thought for a moment that Cavic had won.
“I actually did,” Phelps said. “When I chopped the last stroke, I thought it cost me the race. But it was actually the opposite. If I had glided, I would have been way too long. I took short, faster strokes to try and get my hand on the wall. I ended up making the right decision.”
After staring at the scoreboard, Phelps smacked the water and let out a roar of triumph.
“It was kind of a little bit of a delayed reaction,” he said.
Cavic, whose team protested the result and thought he should share the gold, said: “Losing by one-hundredth of a second is the most difficult thing to accept, especially in an Olympic final.”
However, he was not in favor of the protest lodged on his behalf.
“If it’s up to me, I would drop the protest,” Cavic said.
Wittingly or not, Cavic had given Phelps extra fuel with his pre-race remark that it would be good for the American to lose.
As they lined up waiting for the start, Cavic faced Phelps defiantly across the blocks.
“There was no need to look over to try and see him, I saw his shadow coming in my goggles,” Cavic said afterwards.
“When people say things like that it fires me up,” Phelps said. “If anyone wants to make comments that’s fine, I will always welcome them and I will give my response in the water.”
Serbia’s protest was denied.
Race referee Ben Ekumbo, of swimming’s governing body FINA, said the finish was reviewed with the help of specialists from Omega electronic timing and that the one-two result was clear.
“I looked at the video footage from Omega and it was very clear the Serbian swimmer had second behind Michael Phelps,” he said. “After seeing the video I met with the Serbian officials and team leaders and offered them the chance to see the race for themselves after the competition.”
With his seventh gold, Phelps matched the record that US swimmer Mark Spitz established at the Munich Olympics in 1972 and will have a chance to break it when he swims the 4x100m medley relay today.
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