BEIJING — He could put a gold medal in every room of his house and still have enough for his parents’ rooms. He may even have an extra one to go in the doghouse for Herman, his English bulldog.
Eleven gold medals. The Olympics go back to 1896.
No one else in history has won as many. Even for an athlete whose machine-like precision has keyed his rise to fame, his record haul turned him into a little kid at a water park.
“Wow. Greatest Olympian of all time,” Michael Phelps said. “That’s a pretty cool title.”
The scary part is he’s not done. He had today off. Well, not exactly. He swam the 100 butterfly prelims and the semis of the 200 individual medley to qualify for Friday’s final. But he gave the rest of the swimmers a day off. He had no finals. Others can earn a headline for themselves.
“The Star-Spangled Banner” is getting as monotonous as Kenny G in an elevator. The rest of the world sure seems to care, though. He has graced the cover of every publication from The New York Times to Men’s Journal.
President Bush came to see Phelps win his first gold. The two golds he won here Wednesday attracted the likes of Kobe Bryant and Le-Bron James. If Phelps wins his last three races for a record eight golds in a single Olympics, he might be making as much as they are, too.
After Wednesday’s performance, his news conference packed the room. This is all heady stuff for a kid whose mom threw him in the pool to run off nervous energy.
“When you win an Olympic gold medal, it stays with you forever,” he said. “That never leaves your side.”
How is he doing it, other than he might be the most gifted swimmer to ever live? He knows how to conserve his energy, for one.
“This is my third Olympics,” he said. “I’ve been in these situations a number of times. I’ve been in big meets before. I know how to conserve my energy through a whole meet, whether it’s seven, eight or nine days. That’s probably the biggest thing I’ve worked on the last four years.”
Experience also helps. How many swimmers would’ve panicked when their goggles filled up in an Olympics final? It happened in Wednesday’s gold medal win in the 200 butterfly.
After the first 100, he knew where the wall was only by counting his strokes.
“He can’t see a thing and he still breaks the world record,” U.S. swim coach Mark Schubert said. “Nothing fazes him.”
Phelps, 23, has three challenges left. Ryan Lochte, who nearly beat him in the 200 individual medley in the U.S. Olympic Trials, gets another shot Friday. The only world record Phelps doesn’t hold in the events he entered is the 100 butterfly, and Phelps faces world-record holder Ian Crocker of the U.S. on Saturday.
The next day, with gold medal No. 8 probably on the line, is the 400 medley relay, in which breaststroke specialist Brendan Hansen and Crocker have been shaky.
“This is something we’ve been preparing for for the last four years, and all the work is starting to pay off,” Phelps said. “But I’m not unbeatable. No one’s unbeatable.”
John Henderson: 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com
