BEIJING — This time, there wasn’t even a smile. Michael Phelps’ relentless charge into the history books has become so businesslike, even maddening equipment malfunctions can’t stop him.
He didn’t even give a half-cocked grin, let alone a primal scream this morning after his 200 butterfly gave him his fourth gold medal and fourth world record in as many races.
His primal scream came later. That’s when his United States 4×200 freestyle relay team pulverized its own world record by nearly five seconds with a time of 6 minutes, 58.56 seconds, giving Phelps his fifth gold.
“He’s just a normal person but he might be from another planet,” said Alexander Sukhorukov, who anchored Russia to a silver medal, a distant 5.14 seconds behind yet still a European record. “Not just a different planet. A different galaxy. . . . He’s tremendous.”
Phelps is more than halfway to an unprecedented eight gold medals in a single Olympics. His 1:52.03 to win the 200 butterfly also gave him 10 golds through two Olympiads, the most by any Olympian in history. All he did was break a tie with the likes of U.S. track and field athlete Carl Lewis, Finnish distance runner Paavo Nurmi and U.S. swimmer Mark Spitz, whose seven golds in 1972 Phelps is trying to pass.
When history sunk in, Phelps’ “anger” turned to tears on the medal stand.
“I started thinking about it and that’s when I started tearing up,” Phelps said. “To be at the top with so many great athletes who’ve walked in these Olympic Games, it’s a pretty amazing feeling.”
The 200 fly was a battle for second place. Phelps had recorded nine of the top 11 times in history, including the world mark of 1:52.09 set at last year’s world championships, where he became the only man to set five individual world records in an international event.
But when Phelps dived in the water, his goggles leaked like a sinking ship. He actually trailed New Zealand’s Moss Burmester after the first 50 by .03 of a second.
“I dove in and they instantly filled with water,” Phelps said. “It got worse and worse through the race, and going to the 150 wall and the finish I couldn’t see the wall. I was just hoping I was winning and I could hit the wall first.”
Still, his dominance here has reached the point where he can win blind, literally. He took the lead in the next 50 and pulled away from there. Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh took the silver in a European-record 1:52.70, and Japan’s Takeshi Matsuda took the bronze in an Asian-record 1:52.97.
Phelps had virtually no reaction. He tossed his cap and goggles onto the pool deck, shook water out of his eyes and breathed heavily. He then walked off the floor deck, waved modestly to the crowd and cooled down before his relay.
“I fixed my goggles up a little bit,” he said after the relay. “They’re fine now.”
Like the 200 fly, the 800 relay was a foregone conclusion. Phelps’ opening leg of 1:43.31 gave the U.S. a 2 1/2-second lead, and with Ryan Lochte (1:44.28), Ricky Berens (1:46.29) and Peter Vanderkaay (1:44.68) bringing it home the only question was whether the Americans would be the first country to break seven minutes.
They did, proving right two e-mails sent to Phelps when the day began from a friend who wrote: “Dude, unbelievable. How many times a day do I have to see your ugly face?” And “it’s time to be the best ever.”
Otherwise, besides Natalie Coughlin’s bronze in the 200 individual medley, it was a bad morning for the Americans. Katie Hoff, who had the best time of the year in the women’s 200 freestyle, didn’t medal even though she swam an American record of 1:55.78. All three women who beat her also beat the world record. Italy’s Federica Pellegrini, the third seed, won in 1:54.82, breaking her own world record of 1:55.45.
Hoff also didn’t medal in the 200 individual medley. Australia’s Stephanie Rice won in 2:08.45, the sixth world record today.
Also, Garrett Weber-Gale, who won the Olympic Trials’ 100 freestyle, didn’t qualify for Thursday’s Olympic final. He finished fifth in his semifinal at 48.12, his third-fastest time but .34 off his personal record from Omaha.
Meanwhile, Eric Shanteau, who postponed surgery for testicular cancer to swim in the Olympics, finished sixth in his heat of the 200 breaststroke and failed to qualify, despite a personal best of 2:10.10. Now he’ll sightsee and head to Atlanta for surgery.
“I have no regrets coming here and experiencing the Games,” Shanteau said. “It’s worse for the cancer because now I can put all my energy in that and getting rid of that. Now it stands no chance.”
John Henderson: 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com
