Phelps surpasses Spitz record

Michael Phelps’ quest for swimming immortality became a reality on Sunday morning as the United States’ 4x100m medley relay team handed him his historic eighth gold medal of the Beijing Games.

Phelps surpassed Mark Spitz’s achievement at the Munich Olympics in 1972 by capping an astonishing performance over nine days of swimming with yet another world record – his eighth of the meet – in his final swim.