(BEIJING, August 18) -- Michael Phelps owned the pool at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games with an astonishing eight gold medal performance. As if that weren't enough, all but his 100m Butterfly victory was accompanied by a world record.

　　Along the way, he broke a host of other records, including surpassing Mark Spitz's Munich 1972 Olympic Games effort of seven gold medals at a single summer Olympic Games. Many had said that was impossible.

　　Phelps began his assault on the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games with a bang, winning the Men's 400m Individual Medley on day two in a world record time of 4:03.84, slicing 1.41 seconds off the old mark. Hungary's Laszlo Cseh collected the silver medal and American Ryan Lochte won the bronze medal.

　　His second gold was in the 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay. His tilt at history almost ended when Frenchman Alain Bernard turned at the 50 meter mark on the final leg. Thirty-two-year-old American Jason Lezak was a body length behind the flying Bernard and it looked as though Phelps, who had swum the lead-off leg, and his team would have to settle for silver.

　　Lezak had other plans and produced one of the most stunning final 50m splits ever, a lightning quick 46.06, to overpower the Frenchman on the wall by 0.08 seconds and keep Phelps' dream of eight golds alive. France collected the silver medal and Australia the bronze.

　　Phelps' third gold came in the Men's 200m Freestyle final on day four, in which he broke the world record by nearly one second with a time of 1:42.96. Park Taehwan of the Republic of Korea won the silver medal and Peter Vanderkay of the United States the bronze.

　　Victory in the Men's 200m Butterfly final on day five took Phelps' gold medal tally to four and gave him another world record - 1:52.03 in this, his pet event. Cseh had another great swim to finish with the silver medal and Matsuda Takeshi of Japan took the bronze.

　　The Men's 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay, also on day five, was next for Phelps. His team's world record of 6:58.56 broke the magical seven-minute barrier and netted Phelps' fifth gold. Russia won the silver medal and Australia bronze.