Michael Phelps won his 6th gold at men's 200m Individual Medley in the Water Cube, where German girl Steffen Britta won her county the first for swimming events on Friday morning at Beijing Olympics.
There are only two events left for Phelps to conquer as the American phenom eyes on snatching eight gold medals to break his countryman Mark Spitz's record of seven golds at one Games.
Phelps met no challenge at all as he led the race since jumping into the water and updated his own world record to one minute 54.23 seconds at leisure. It's the eighth time he shaved the world record of the event since 2003.
"I was fine. It was exactly what I needed to do, I actually don't feel too bad now."
"With my programme I have to work on everything; speed, endurance, all four strokes. I need to have enough speed to take it out and enough endurance to finish it fast," Phelps said.
Hungarian versatile swimmer Laszlo Cseh and Phelps' teammate Ryan Lochte managed to trail behind the wunderkind, but had to settle for second and third again as they did in the 400m individual medley final on Sunday.
Cseh only edged 23-year-old Lochte for the silver medal by only 0.01 second, however, the American already tasted a sensational win 30 minutes ago in the men's 200m backstroke final by dethroning teammate Aaron Peirsol under world record pace.
Lochte followed Phelps to take the silver in the event both at Athens Olympics and last year's World Championships. But he never wished that Phelps was not competing in his events.
"If he wasn't in this sport and swimming, I don't think I'd be as good. He is up there and he makes me become better and stronger in training. Without him I wouldn't be standing here today. I think I push him as well."
Phelps has become the most successful Olympian in history with 11 gold medals after victories in the 200m butterfly and 4x200m freestyle relay finals on Wednesday, overtaking Spitz, Carl Lewis, Paavo Nurmi and Larysa Latynina, who won nine Olympic golds each in their career.
Now, people are only speculating if the superfish could realize his eight-gold quest after he cruised into the final of the men's 100m butterfly final just minutes after the medal ceremony of the 200m individual medley.
"I had literally five minutes in between the awards ceremony ending and switching to my race stuff, putting my cap on and marching straight out. There was no time. Now I've got a lot of time to rest. I've got 18 hours to get ready for tomorrow," said Phelps.
On the women's side, German swimmer Steffen Britta finished a surprising touchdown first in the women's 100-meter freestyle and Rebecca Soni of the United States played a best substitute performance to add her country the 8th gold at swimming events.
After narrowly squeaking into the final, the former world-record holder in the event, Steffen was seemed to be a forgotten athlete, sitting in eighth place and out of the medal race. She finished the first 50m in the last but then managed a magic surpass by arriving on the strength of a back-half split of 27.08, 0.79s faster than anyone else in the pool.
"That was the moment when I didn't know what had happened at the other side of me... It's a super race. Even if I hadn't got a medal it would be fine," Steffen told reporters at a press conference after the race. She said she went to the race without feeling much pressure and only thought about having a great race for herself.
"I wasn't counting for a medal. Sometimes it's better to have that attitude and there is something from what you've expected", the 25-year-old said.
Australian Lisbeth Trickett, who still holds world record of 52.88, failed her second bid for gold by being edged by Steffen with 0. 04 second, and American veteran Natalie Coughlin earned her second bronze in the Beijing Games and equaled her American record with a time of 53.39.
In the women's 200m breaststroke final, The 21-year-old Soni fired a power charge in the final leg by touching home at 2:20.22, beating Leisel Jones from Australia in a body length advantage, and bettering the Aussie's world record 0.32 second.
Soni, who was only substituted to the event after Jessica Hardy withdrew due to a failed drug test, said she felt great although still could not believe she really had won an Olympic gold.
"It has been a long road to get here. I tried to keep my stroke strong. It's something I've been working on through the trials", the Southern California University swimming star said.
Zimbabwean versatile Kirsty Coventry, who reigned the women's 200m backstroke at Athens topped the semifinal for the event by 2: 07.76. American Margaret Hoelzer who holds the world record of 2:06. 09, along with her teammate Elizabeth Beisel both swam into the final to be kicked off on Saturday morning.
(Xinhua News Agency August 15, 2008)