Beijing, Aug 16: American swimmer Michael Phelps has equalled Mark Spitz'' seven-gold mark with a hard-won gold medal in men''s 100-meter butterfly at the Games here on Saturday.

Phelps beat Serbian Milorad Cavic by 0.01 seconds with an Olympic record time of 50.58 seconds. Australian Andrew Lauterstein got the bronze in 51.12. World record holder Ian Crocker finished fourth at 51.13. Phelps is now on his way to an unprecedented feat of eight golds at a single Olympics. Speaking after his win he said: "Beforehand, Bob (his coach) said it would be good for me if I lost. When he said that I was fired up. I said, ''I''m going to go for it''. And when I saw that finish I said ''wow''."

Phelps again screamed after the victory and punched hard at the water. He was so overjoyed that he barely noticed Cavic congratulating him in the pool.

Phelps has one more race in the 4X100m medley relay to go before leaving Beijing, a Xinhua report said.


OneIndia News