Friday, August 15, 2008

He Does It Again

Michael Phelps pulled off a true nailbiter, winning his 7th gold medal of these Olympic games.

(Michael Kappler/APF/Getty Images)

This one was supposed to be the one that tripped him up. His Kryptonite, if you will. He was trailing in the race. Second to last at the turn. In the second 50 meters, he began to close in, but it didn't look like he would make it. He was in the middle of a stroke when the Serbian Milorad Cavic stretched his hands out to the wall. It looked like Phelps would indeed fail. He would fall. His dream would end in a cruel awakening.

Somehow, by some miracle, Superman got his hand on the wall first. He won. By the tiniest of margins. By .01 seconds. That's one one hundredth of a second. But still, he won.

(Nick Lalham/Getty Images)

For 36 years, Mark Spitz held the record for the most gold medals won at a single Olympics. Now that record has been tied.

By the length of a fingernail.

(Getty Images)


4 comments:

Robin said...

Isn't he AWESOME!!!

Buck said...

That was literally unbelievable. As was the protest that followed, but all was well that ended well, eh?

Opal said...

It truly was unbelievable. I already knew that he won the race (stupid plurker), but I didn't know in what fashion. That in itself made it worth watching. :)

Becky G said...

Robin, awesome is right! And that's putting it mildly.

Buck, It was indeed, yet in my mind, I never doubted that somehow he'd pull it out. The protest was also unbelievable. Back in the days of naked eye judgements maybe, but the touchpad never lies. Neither do the corroborating photographs.

Opal, stupid plurker! I know now, but I could still watch it over and over, along with the 4 x 100 freestyle relay.