On this day in 2008: Michael Phelps breaks Mark Spitz’s Olympics record
Phelps claimed his eighth gold medal of the Beijing Olympics to surpass Spitz’s single Games record.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Michael Phelps won his eighth gold medal of the Beijing Olympics on this day in 2008 to break Mark Spitz’s record for victories in a single Games.
Phelps was part of the United States team that won the 4x100m medley relay, meaning he had taken gold in all eight events he had entered.
The United States were running third, trailing Australia and Japan, when Phelps dived in for the third leg of the medley but once he had completed his 100m butterfly, he gave team-mate Jason Lezak a half-second lead and set them up for the world record.
It was the seventh of his eight golds to come with a world record, the only exception being the 100m butterfly.
Spitz previously held the single-Games record when he swept the board with seven golds at the Munich Olympics in 1972.
“Records are always made to be broken no matter what they are,” Phelps said after the race. “Anybody can do anything that they set their mind to.”
Phelps, who had won six Olympic titles at the 2004 Athens Games, would go on to win a further four gold medals in London in 2012.
He then announced his retirement but reversed that decision in 2014 and went on to win five more golds in Rio in 2016, making him the most successful individual at a fourth Games.
When he retired for the second and final time he did so with 28 Olympic medals, 23 of them gold, a record better than 161 nations.