United States' Michael Phelps swims to the gold medal in the men's 4x200-metre freestyle relay final. - AP
BEIJING (AP):
WITH WORLD records falling all around him, Michael Phelps stood tall - twice - on the top of the Olympic medal podium on Tuesday night (Ja time).
The American swimmer won his fourth and fifth gold medals of the Beijing Games, setting two world records along the way. That brought his career total to a record 11 golds with three more events to go for him to become the first to win eight gold medals at a single 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."
China outscore USA
In women's gymnastics, China won the team event, outscoring the favoured United States by more than two points. It was the first Olympic gold for the Chinese, who beat the Americans for their first world title in 2006.
The error-prone Americans struggled for consistency, falling off the beam and stepping out of bounds. That meant China's final three routines were mere victory dances for Deng Linlin, Jiang Yuyuan and Cheng Fei.
"This is the most important gold medal," China coach Lu Shanzhen said. "This proves, once again, the Chinese women's team is the best and most excellent. I was also surprised at the mistakes made by the US team."
Phelps won the 200-metre butterfly at the Water Cube in a record time of one minute, 52.03 seconds, lowering his old mark of 1:52.09 from the 2007 world championships.
He later led off the US team's win in the 4x200 freestyle relay, helping set a record of 6:58.56 as the Americans became the first team to break the seven-minute barrier.
Phelps is alone at the top of the career golds list, now two ahead of Mark Spitz, Carl Lewis, Paavo Nurmi and Larysa Latynina.
Spitz is the only man to win seven golds at a singles Games, the 1972 Munich Olympics, and Phelps will need to win the 200 individual medley, 100 butterfly and 400 medley relay to surpass him.
In the semi-finals of the 100 free, Eamon Sullivan of Australia and Alain Bernard of France exchanged records. Bernard won the first heat in 47.20, but Sullivan won the second heat in 47.05.
"Records don't mean much," Sullivan said. "They don't win medals at the end of the day, unfortunately. But it gives me confidence that I can swim my own race under pressure."
Federica Pelligrini of Italy then set a world record in the women's 200 free, winning gold in 1:54.82. In the 200 individual medley, Stephanie Rice of Australia completed her IM sweep with another world record of 2:08.45.
Kristin Armstrong won the gold medal in the women's time trial, making her the second American woman to become an Olympic champion cyclist after Connie Carpenter-Phinney.
Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland won the men's time trial.
France gold in wrestling
Steeve Guenot won France's first Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling gold medal in 84 years by taking the 66-kilogramme weight class.
Liu Chunhong broke three world records in the women's 69kg division, defending her Olympic title to win China's sixth gold in weightlifting.
Hungarian strongman Janos Baranyai's first Olympics ended in agony when he dislocated his right elbow. Baranyai was trying to snatch 148kg (326.3 pounds) in his third lift in the men's 77kg division when his elbow popped out of socket.
Chen Ying won gold in the 25-metre pistol, giving China their sixth medal in shooting.
Also, Britta Heidemann of Germany won the women's épée and Benjamin Kleibrink of Germany won the men's foil in fencing; Sa Jae-hyouk of South Korea won men's 77kg in weightlifting; Masae Ueno of Japan won the women's 70kg and Irakli Tsirekidze of Georgia won the men's 90kg in judo; and Manuchar Kvirkelia of Georgia won the 74kg in Greco-Roman wrestling.
