MICHEAL PHELPS: First Athlete won 8 gold medals in Olympic

The Olympics is primarily a team event, however every once in a while there comes along an amazing individual story. Michael Phelps has perhaps the best individual story of this year's event. He has the opportunity to win 8 gold medals at the games in China, and so far it doesn't look like anyone can stop him.

He is seeking to go one better than Mark Spitz's record of seven golds in the Munich games way back in 1972. Michael Phelps has already joined Spitz in a different record, having earned 9 gold medals in his Olympic career overall and likely to surpass this with 5 events still to go. In fact by the time you read this he may already have 10 gold medals in his possession over all his Olympic appearances.

More people seem to be interested in the other record though, can Michael Phelps win 8 gold medals in just one Olympic games? It would be a truly remarkable effort if he does, one that will surely go down in history. Phelps celebrated his latest win in the 200m freestyle with another world record time, in fact all 3 gold medals so far have been in world record time. Mark Spitz set his record of 7 gold medals with 7 world record times as well, and Phelps may indeed be able to do the same.

Many people including Mark Spitz himself have been amazed at the courage of Phelps to go into this games with such a burden on his shoulders, even racing in events where he did not have the best times and did not dominate at the last Olympic games. The 200m freestyle was such an event, with Phelps only coming third at the last Olympic games, and now setting a new world record in that event.

I think everyone, whether they are an American or not, really wants him to crack this 8 Olympic gold record and set the sporting world on fire. The Olympics may be a team event but it is a truly special experience to see one person at the peak of their career who is so dominant and performing so well

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Greg_Morgan

OLYMPICS: Usain Bolt set a new world record

Usain Bolt powered to a new world record as he produced a stunning run in the 100m Olympic final.

Bolt was well clear at 60m and although he eased down and started to celebrate 15 metres from the line he still set a new mark of 9.69 seconds.

Richard Thompson finished second while American Walter Dix came third.

Bolt's Jamaican team-mate Asafa Powell had been tipped as a possible rival but finished in fifth place as Bolt produced a superlative performance.

Second-placed Thompson posted a time of 9.89 seconds while Dix was two-hundredths of a second back in third as six men broke the 10-second barrier, but the race was all about Bolt.

Earlier this year he had set a new world record of 9.72 seconds to take the record away from Powell, and the 21-year-old had looked in imperious form on his way to the final.

Powell had also looked in fine form but from the gun it was clear there was only going to be one winner.

The 6ft 5in Bolt was away as quickly as anyone and when he hit the front with 50m to go it was all over bar the shouting.

The only question was just how fast a time he was going to set.

And despite easing down well short of the line he took three-hundredths of a second off his previous record in a display American legend Michael Johnson described as "the greatest 100m performance in the history of the event"