American Michael Phelps swam into history on Sunday winning his record eighth gold of the Olympic Games here and becoming the first athlete to achieve the distinction.
BEIJING: American Michael Phelps swam into history on Sunday winning his record eighth gold of the Olympic Games here and becoming the first athlete to achieve the distinction.
Phelps joined his teammates to clinch the 4x100m medley relay in the Water Cube and surpassed fellow American legend Mark Spitz's seven gold haul in Munich in 1972.
It was a remarkable week for Phelps, 23, who also broke seven world records and became the most successful Olympian with a career 14 gold medals.
The butterfly leg of the medley event was key to the US team's relay victory as Phelps gave partner Jason Lezak in the freestyle part the lead that the latter clutched on to and anchor.
The relay team's win pushed the US tally of gold to 17 but still way behind China's 28.
Away from the pool, the spotlight was on the women's marathon which saw 38 year old Constantia Tomescu Dita of Romania winning clocking 2 hours 26 minutes and 44 seconds.
There are 37 finals Sunday, five more in athletics including the womens 100m and men's 10,000m, as well tennis, badminton, cycling, diving, fencing, gymnastics, rowing, yachting, shooting, table tennis, weightlifting and wrestling.
The men's 10,000m final, in which Surendra Singh of India is a participant, appears set to be an all Ethiopian affair with Kenenisa Bekele looking to defend his title from former champion Haile Gebrselassie and Sileshi Sihine, the silver medallist in Athens.
In tennis, the women's singles gold went to Russian Elena Dementieva who beat her compatriot Dinara Safina 3 6, 7 5, 6 3.
The women's doubles gold went to American sisters Venus and Serena Williams who defeated Spain's Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual 6 2, 6 0.
The other honours in swimming went to Britta Steffen of Germany in women s 50m freestyle, Tunisian Ous Mellouli who earned her country's first Olympic gold in 1500m freestyle ending Australian Grant Hackett's two Olympic reign and his dream of making it a three in a row in the Games.
Australia beat the US to win the women s 4X100m medley relay in a world record time of 3:52.69 minutes.
China's Qiu Jian won the gold in men's 50m three position rifle event stunning American Matt Emmons, who fired on the wrong target in the last shot.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}