14 August 2008 :On Wednesday, Michael Phelps broke the all time Olympic medal record when he won his 10th career Olympic gold medal in the men’s 200m butterfly.
He added an 11th gold medal the same day, when the USA clinched the 4 x 200m freestyle, giving him an unprecedented 11 career gold medals. Phelps has so far won five gold medals at the Beijing Games and has the possibility of winning three more. If he succeeds this exploit, he will also break Mark Spitz’ 1972 record harvest of seven gold medals in swimming at the Munich Summer Games. “There is still something left in the tank," Phelps said. "I’ve got three races left, so there had better be something left in the tank."
Latynina’s record broken
Phelps has beaten the record that was held so far by the Ukrainian gymnast Larissa Latynina, who won – at the time under the flag of the former Soviet Union – nine gold medals with an overall medal stand of 18 medals. Third in this list of most gold medals won at the Olympic Games, with nine gold medals, is the legendary Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi, followed by Mark Spitz and top track and field champion Carl Lewis.