No one doubts that American swimmer Michael Phelps will win gold at the upcoming Beijing Olympics. The question is, how many?
When the 23-year-old swimmer climbed from the water last week after his fifth win at the U.S. Olympic trials, everyone started to speculate that Mark Spitz's 36-year-long record -- seven gold medals at one Olympic Games -- may last only another month or so.
Michael Phelps swims in the Men's 400m Individual Medley at the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials in Omaha of the United States, June 29, 2008. Phelps won the title and set a new world record with 4 minutes and 5.25 seconds.
Coming off a historic seven-win performance at last year's world championships, Phelps is expected to swim eight races in Beijing -- the 200-meter freestyle, the 100-meter butterfly, the 200-meter butterfly, the 200-meter individual medley, the 400-meter individual medley, the 4x100-meter freestyle relay, 4x200-meter freestyle relay, and the 4x100-meter medley relay.
Phelps had the chance to break Spitz's record four years ago in Athens, where he competed in the same eight swimming events. However, with six gold medals and eight overall, he narrowly missed out.
As Beijing Olympics draws near, expectations on Phelps are mounting. But the swimmer remained cool. "You guys talk about that," Phelps told reporters, referring to Spitz's record. "I just get in the water and do what I love to do, and that's compete."
In contrast to Phelps' seemingly nonchalance, Spitz, the man Phelps is chasing after, seemed to be very convinced that his legendary record would be broken by the young swimming prodigy.
"What do I project for Michael Phelps in Beijing?" Spitz, the star of the 1972 Munich Games, told the Associated Press. "A success story for all times sake."
At the age of 15, Phelps competed at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney as the youngest American male swimmer at an Olympic Games in 68 years. While he did not win a medal, he was fifth in the 200-meter Butterfly.
The following years witnessed the fast rise of Phelps. Five months after the Sydney Olympics, Phelps broke the world record in the 200-meter butterfly to become, at 15 years and 9 months, the youngest man ever to set a swimming world record. Since then, breaking world record has become a routine to Phelps.
As of July, 2008, Phelps has set 25 world records (22 individuals and 3 relays), approaching the record held by Spitz of 33 world records (26 individual and 7 relay). The last two, in 200m and 400m individual medley, were set at the US Olympic swimming trials days ago.
Phelps's international titles, along with his various world records, have resulted in his being named World Swimmer of the Year four times -- in 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007.
Although Spitz has pointed out several hurdles to Phelps in Beijing, including the performances of other swimmers in relay events, many believe that Phelps now is closer to the target than he was in Athens.
In Athens, Ian Thorpe of Australia was a formidable obstacle. The Australian successfully halted Phelps's gold rush by snatching the gold in men's 200 freestyle. With Thorpe's retirement, it seems that no one could be a threat to Phelps.
In Beijing, Phelps is expected to swim only one individual event in which he doesn't hold the world record. Fellow American Ian Crocker is the current world record holder of the 100 butterfly, but Phelps has won 12 of 16 races against Crocker, including the last four.
Phelps said there are still a few little things he could work on between now and the Olympics so that he would be "able to nail the finish and have better turns."
"At the Olympics, it's going to be harder than it was here," Phelps was quoted as saying after the Olympic trials. "Hopefully, it's something I can be successful at."
(Xinhua News Agency July 14, 2008)