Michael Phelps has dreamed of a lot of things, written down a lot of goals ever since he started training under Bob Bowman in the 200m butterfly event at the age of 15. This was the biggest one he had ever written down. So big that the world just kept convincing itself for 32 years that it was impossible to achieve; so big that the Water Cube forgot about everything else here these past nine days.
On Sunday, Phelps was set to write the punchline of his fairytale. He was itching to break Mark Spitz’s record of seven gold medals at an Olympics, and all roads led to the Cube.
‘The dream’ loomed large over the city’s landscape as people rushed to reach in time. Hundreds milled outside the security check point, looking desperately for tickets. They were selling all right, at four times the normal price. It was like no other Sunday.
Inside, fans had occupied the seats long back in anticipation, fanning themselves, sipping iced tea and simply waiting, eyes glued to the clock. At exactly 10.30am the wait came to an end. The buzz turned into a roar as Phelps trooped in with his teammates and stretched for a while at the 4x100m relay medley starting point.
Eight years after he became the youngest man to set a swimming world record in 200m butterfly Phelps was ready to stroke and glide again, in the event he loves the most the butterfly, like always the third of the four styles in a medley.
Aaron Peirsol gave USA the lead in the first leg, the backstroke; Brendan Steven stayed an inch ahead in the breaststroke and then dived in Phelps. The noise level at the pool could have matched one at an Aerosmith concert.
Phelps has a rare body, his upper torso much longer than his legs. His arm span of 201 cm is 7 cm more than his height. Those arms got down to work to create history, in a beautiful rhythm. The crowd cheered every stroke, every move, every ripple in the sparkling blue at the Cube.
He was way ahead of the rest and soon as he touched the pad, the chanting began. Jason Lezak just went for it, leaving behind a splashing trail. As he turned for the second 50m, one could see Phelps cheering him on, arms swinging wildly, the dream coming closer. It soon turned into a reality and Phelps hugged them all, tightly. Not letting go, feeling his dream, living his dream.
Mission accomplished, the pool’s water now a tranquil blue, Phelps said later at the press conference: “I just saw mum for one minute, we just hugged, she started crying, and I started crying, and then my sister started crying. It’s been a fun week.” The Aquaman was human again.
400M IND MEDLEY Cruises to the finish line in record time of 4:03:84, bettering the previous mark of 4:05:25
4X100M FREESTYLE RELAY Team USA takes the gold, setting a new world record time of 3:08:24
200M FREESTYLE Shatters previous world record time, clocks 1:42:96 on the way to gold
200M BUTTERFLY Another gold and another record-breaking performance with 1:52:03
4X200M FREESTYLE RELAY Team USA dominates the field with a time of 6:58:56. Phelps bags gold No. 5
200M IND MEDLEY Shaves 0.57 off the previous world record to win the race clocking 1:54:23
100M BUTTERFLY His toughest race by far, Phelps wins the race by a hundreth of a second, with a time of 50.58
4X100M MEDLEY Team USA ensures Phelps bags gold No.8 as they set a new world record of 3:29:34
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