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.
Also See: The Michael Phelps Diet: don't try this at home
AND
Also See: SWIMMING: Adlington breaks oldest world record, grabs second gold
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique