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U.S. Goes And Gets The Golds
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The specter of the 200 freestyle had been there since Athens, too, the only individual race he entered there which he did not win.
"I don't think that's a motivator for him," said his coach, Bob Bowman.
Perhaps not. But the loss -- to the then-superior Ian Thorpe of Australia and Pieter van den Hoogenband of the Netherlands -- certainly pushed Phelps to improve in the event. And the way he handled that race four years ago, opting to challenge Thorpe at the height of the Australian's powers against Bowman's advice, has become a symbol of his impervious nature, the fact that he will back down from nothing.
Mark Spitz, who owns the record of seven golds at one Games that Phelps could break, said last month that he suspected that loss is the primary reason Phelps originally broke the world record, a record he seized from Thorpe.
"I think, in a way, yes," Phelps said.
The only unfortunate aspect to Tuesday's event: Neither Thorpe, who is now retired, nor van den Hoogenband, who dropped the event to concentrate on the 100 freestyle, raced against Phelps. The stiffest competition came not from Park or Vanderkaay -- but from himself.
"I wanted to get out in the open water," Phelps said. That was scarcely a problem, because as soon as his head first emerged after he dove in, he owned a healthy lead. Phelps touched in 1:42.96, a full nine-tenths of a second faster than his old world record, an incomprehensible 1.89 seconds ahead of Park.
When Phelps took the medal stand -- he is now tied with four other athletes, including Spitz and Carl Lewis, for the most gold medals in history, nine -- he looked poised, composed. Coughlin, though, broke down. "It hasn't really sunk in yet," she said, even though she had been there before.
Peirsol's eyes, too, welled up. He had won three Olympic gold medals before. He might win two more here. It didn't matter.
"You never get used to it," he said. "This is something you can't get used to."
