Michael Phelps swam into history with his 19th Olympic medal, and this one was a more appropriate color.

With a lot of help from his friends, Phelps took down the last major record that wasn’t his alone, swimming the anchor leg for the United States in a gold medal-winning performance of the 4x200-meter freestyle relay Tuesday night.

About an hour earlier, Phelps took one of the most frustrating defeats of his brilliant career, making a shocking blunder at the finish and settling for silver in his signature event, the 200 butterfly.

That tied the record for career medals held by Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina, but it was hardly a triumphant moment. Phelps slung away his cap in disgust and struggled to force a smile at the medal ceremony.

But any disappointment from that race was gone by the time he dived in the water on the relay, having been staked to a huge lead by teammates Ryan Lochte, Conor Dwyer and Ricky Berens.

Before the race, they all huddled together, fully aware of their moment in history.

“I thanked those guys for helping me get to this moment,” Phelps said. “I told those guys I wanted a big lead. I was like, ‘You better give me a big lead going into the last lap,’ and they gave it to me. I just wanted to hold on. I thanked them for being able to allow me to have this moment.”

Berens handed off a lead of nearly 4 seconds to Phelps, who lingered a bit on the blocks, knowing the only way he could blow this one was to get disqualified. Then he set off on what amounted to four victory laps of the pool - down and back, then down and back again, the roar in the Olympic Aquatics Centre getting louder as he approached the finish.

Lochte stood on the deck, waving his arms. Dwyer and Berens pumped their fists. And Phelps touched the wall for his first gold of the London Games with a cumulative time of 6 minutes, 59.70 seconds.

No one else was close. France’s Yannick Agnel swam a faster final leg than Phelps, but it wasn’t nearly good enough, his country taking silver in 7:02.77. China was far back in third at 7:06.30.

Phelps might have backed into the record a bit by failing to win any of his first three events at these games, but there’s no denying his legacy as one of the greatest Olympians ever - if not THE greatest.

Phelps has 15 golds in his career, six more than anyone else, to go along with two silvers and two bronzes. Latynina won nine golds, five silvers and four bronzes from 1956-64.

“You are now a complete legend,” the public-address announced bellowed, accompanied by the Foo Fighters’ song “Best of You.”

Phelps still has three more races to go before he retires, three more chances to establish a mark that will be hard for anyone to touch.

“It has been a pretty amazing career,” he said, “but we still have a couple races to go.” (AP)



<관련 한글 기사>



'수영황제' 펠프스, 또 새로운 역사 쓰다


미국의 ‘수영황제’ 마이클 펠프스(27)가 런던에서 처음 ‘금빛 물살’을 가르고 올림픽 통산 최다 메달 신기록을 세웠다.

펠프스는 31일(현지시간) 영국 런던 올림픽파크 아쿠아틱센터에서 열린 2012 런던올림픽 남자 계영 800ｍ 결승에서 미국 대표팀의 마지막 영자로 나서 금메달을 합작하고 올림픽 역사를 새로 썼다.

라이언 록티-코너 드와이어-리키 버렌스-펠프스 순으로 팀을 꾸린 미국은 6분59초70으로 프랑스(7분02초77), 중국(7분06초30)을 제치고 금메달을 가져갔다.

펠프스는 앞서 열린 접영 200ｍ 결승에서는 2004년 아테네, 2008년 베이징 대회에 이어 3회 연속 금메달을 노렸지만 1분53초01로 채드 르 클로스(남아프리카공화국•1분52초96)에게 0.05초가 뒤져 은메달을 획득하는데 만족해야 했다.

하지만 이번 대회 계영 400ｍ에서도 은메달을 딴 펠프스는 이날 두 개의 메달을 추가, 역대 올림픽 사상 최다 메달 신기록을 세웠다.

아테네에서 6관왕과 함께 동메달 2개를 추가하고, 베이징에서는 8관왕에 올랐던 펠프스는 이번 대회에서 메달 3개(금1, 은2)를 보태 개인 통산 올림픽 메달 수를 19개(금15, 은2, 동2)로 늘렸다.

옛 소련의 전설적인 체조 선수였던 라리사 라티니나(78)가 세운 종전 올림픽 최다 메달(18개•금9, 은5, 동4) 기록을 넘어섰다.

펠프스는 이번 대회에서 접영 100ｍ와 개인혼영 200ｍ 등 아직 세 종목을 남겨둬 메달을 추가할 가능성이 크다.

펠프스가 통산 19번째 메달을 금빛으로 장식한 계영 800ｍ는 4명의 선수가 200ｍ씩을 나눠 맡아 자유형으로 헤엄쳐 승부를 가리는 단체전 종목이다.

미국은 첫 번째 영자 록티부터 마지막 펠프스까지 한 번도 1위 자리를 놓치지않고 ‘와이어 투 와이어’ 우승을 일궜다.

프랑스의 마지막 주자인 이번 대회 자유형 200ｍ 금메달리스트 야닉 아넬이 무서운 스피드로 펠프스를 쫓아왔지만 이미 벌어진 간격을 뒤집기에는 역부족이었다.

한편, 자유형 400ｍ에서 금메달을 따고 자유형 200ｍ에서는 박태환(SK텔레콤)과 공동 은메달을 목에 건 쑨양(중국)은 이날 계영 800ｍ에서 마지막 영자로 나서 동메달을 더해 이번 대회에서 세 번째 메달을 챙겼다.

(코리아헤럴드)