Phelps won his 7th Gold by 0.01 second

The computer called it one-hundredth of a second, but technology is a fantastic liar. Imagine the time it would take to travel between a pair of atoms on the tip of a needle – that was the difference that delivered Michael Phelps his seventh gold medal and tied Mark Spitz in 1972 for the most gold medal won in olympics.

But clarity didn’t come before thousands of eyes snapped quickly upward to the giant screen, officially registering Phelps’ victory inside Beijing’s Water Cube. A collective stare was followed by a rolling whoosh of American joy and disbelief as his name popped up one-hundredth of a second faster than Serbia’s Milorad Cavic – 50.58 seconds to 50.59.

Good enough for an Olympic record, and fast enough to touch off an explosion in the bleachers looming overhead: WHOOOOOOOAAAAAA!

Phelps went into the final 50 meters of Saturday’s 100-meter butterfly in seventh place, then shovel-kicked his way to a victory that could hardly be measured in the length of an eyelash. Even he had to take off his goggles and eye the scoreboard to believe it, at which point he slapped his spindly fingers into the water and let out a roar of “Yeaaaaaaaaaaah!”

At that very moment, the Serbian swimming team was looking up at the same results from the edge of the pool deck, screaming another chorus of “NO!” The Serbians would later protest the results, to the point that FINA had to review a replay that slowed the race down to one ten-thousandths of real time. The video and timing system showed that Phelps had indeed won, if only by a few cells at the tips of his fingers. Even the Serbs had to relent after FINA ushered them into the video room and showed them frame-by-frame results. But even now, the win looks indecipherable to the naked eye.


I saw the finish on the big screen after the race and then I saw it slowed down frame by frame at the massage area,” Phelps said. “I was looking at the computer, and it’s almost too close to see. One one-hundredth is the smallest margin of victory in our sport. It’s pretty cool.