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Phelps amazes world with Beijing eight
2008-08-17
BEIJING (Reuters) - Michael Phelps held his arms aloft on Sunday after surpassing Mark Spitz as the most successful swimmer and Olympian of all time, relief written on his face after he won an unprecedented eighth gold at one Games. Afterwards, he said he just wanted to hug his mum. The American stole the limelight even from Jamaican Usain Bolt's audaciously brilliant 100m win in the athletics showpiece that has been the Beijing Games' other defining moment so far. On an unhappier note, U.S. shooter Matt Emmons threw away gold for a second successive Games with a misfire on his final shot. He did the same four years ago in Athens by firing at the wrong target. Phelps hugged his team mates after a world record-breaking 4x100 meters medley relay win, a relatively comfortable race compared to two finger-tip finishes in Beijing. The win gave him his eighth gold at these Games, one more than Spitz in 1972, and his 14th in all, five more than anyone else in the Olympics' 112-year history. Yet the 23-year-old, who as a child in Baltimore had a screaming fit at his first swimming lesson because he did not want to get his face wet, showed he was human after all. "The first thing I'd like to do to my mum is just hug her, said Phelps, whose parents separated when he was young. "I've literally seen her for about 30 seconds this whole time." Phelps overcame attention deficit disorder as a child. In Beijing he again showed his strength of character to overcome intense pressure. After his exploits, he said wanted to lie down in his own bed for five minutes "and just relax." "It's been nothing but an upwards rollercoaster but it's been nothing but fun," he added at his moment of triumph, embracing his tearful mother and sister. "With so many people saying it couldn't be done, all it takes is an imagination." Phelps achievement has dazzled the Chinese hosts, for whom eight is a lucky number, and brought timely cheer to Americans. "The economy and gas prices are always on your mind but Michael's success helps you forget depressing things," said Los Angeles resident Samantha Higgins, who was among the tens of millions glued to Phelps's every race on TV in the United States. Despite the swimmer's heroics, the U.S. team is struggling to keep pace with China at the top of the medals table. With more than seven days to go, the hosts lead by 31 golds to 18, and are already within touching distance of their Athens haul of 32. It has also been a fantastic weekend for the 2012 hosts, on the water and on two wheels. Britain have scored eight gold medals in two days in cycling, rowing, sailing and the pool, taking them to 11 golds and third place in the medals table. Sunday, day nine, was the busiest of the August 8-24 Games, with 34 golds on offer. It began with a triumph for Romania in one of the Olympics' most grueling events. Constantina Tomescu had time to relax and wave as she entered the Bird's Nest stadium to claim a surprise win in the women's marathon that began in Tiananmen Square. In the highest-profile doping case of the Games, Greece's defending women's 400 meters hurdles champion Fani Halkia failed a drug test hours before she was to compete. The furious chief of Greece's Olympic Committee told Reuters the "golden girl" of the Athens Games should have stayed home instead of dragging the country's name through the mud. "If you want to commit suicide it is up to you, but you do not have the right to kill your country," Minos Kyriakou said. DEJA VU FOR SHOOTER But it has been the scintillating sport, not scandals, dominating attention in Beijing and relegating the pre-Games focus on China's rights record and pollution problems. The U.S. team got some cheer when the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, put their tennis singles disappointment behind them to pick up a second consecutive gold in the doubles. Elena Dementieva beat fellow Russian Dinara Safina to the singles crown, saying it was the greatest moment of her career. There was worse news for the Americans in the shooting range, when shooter Emmons had his moment of terrible deja vu, unbelievably throwing away a big lead right at the death for the second time in the Olympics. After firing at the wrong target in Athens, a nervous Emmons this time squandered a huge 3.3-point lead on his final shot when he pulled the trigger by mistake while lining up, to register a mere 4.4 after scores mostly above 10 before that. That error let China's Qiu Jian take gold in the men's 50m rifle three-positions. Emmons finished fourth. "I didn't feel my trigger shaking but I guess it was," he said. (Reporting by Beijing Olympic bureau; Editing by Jon Bramley)
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