http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE3D7173DF932A2575BC0A96E9C8B63
SPORTS OF THE TIMES;
A Medal Chase Ignored by Phelps, Watched Closely by Everyone Else
By GEORGE VECSEY
Published: August 11, 2008
Even Michael Phelps needs help sometimes. He won yet another gold medal, in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay on Monday morning here, in world-record time, with the help of a monstrous final leg by Jason Lezak.
''That was awesome,'' Phelps chortled about Lezak's stunning leg of 46.06 seconds, which caught Alain Bernard, the Frenchman who had predicted his team would ''smash'' the Americans. Bernard completed his leg in 46.73 seconds -- and Phelps had his second gold of these Games, gained while watching Lezak from the edge of the pool.
On his way to the victory ceremony, Phelps stopped to disclose that on the team bus coming over to the arena, the Americans had noted how ''the French team was talking a little trash.'' Garrett Weber-Gale, who went behind Phelps in the relay, had said, ''Let our swimming do the talking,'' which they did, most especially Lezak.
''His last 50 meters were absolutely incredible,'' Phelps said with awe, never mentioning his own medal or the totals.
Phelps has refused to speak about the possibility of winning eight gold medals, which would break Mark Spitz's record of seven in one Summer Olympics, but let's look at it this way: Phelps did not enter these eight events, and all the heats leading up to them, to merely break even or get lucky. He is here for the record.
Phelps is the reason NBC strong-armed the hosts into running swimming finals at the bizarre hour of 10 a.m. local time, to satisfy the prime-time audiences in the United States.
On Sunday morning here, he willed himself to a world record, making himself weep when the reality hit home. That gold medal in the 400-meter individual medley was his ninth in the Olympics, and now he is one shy of swimming's career leader, Spitz.
He won the 10th on Monday morning as part of a relay team that had been reconstructed after a B team set a world record Sunday night. Cullen Jones, who was part of the record team, was back on Monday, and Lezak and Weber-Gale were added to the squad.
It was a foregone conclusion that Phelps would have a place in the final. It is as if the beautiful Water Cube were conceived and built just for the rangy man from Baltimore.
Phelps is the unifying individual story of these Games, aside from the host country, of course. So even in the bizarre morning hours, all time revolves around him.
On Sunday morning, after he won his gold, setting a world record of 4 minutes 3.84 seconds, Phelps waved to President Bush, then dutifully went to the mixed zone, where reporters were swarming. He showed his media-savvy side by speaking loudly and slowly enough to be understood four rows deep. This meant he would not have to repeat himself but could satisfy enough people with one appearance, explaining why he had seemed uncharacteristically serious after the race.
''I looked up and I saw the American flag, and it was a pretty special feeling,'' he said. Asked why he had seemed so emotional after the race, Phelps said, ''I wanted to sing on the medal podium, but I kept crying.''
Part of his emotion seemed to stem from how he had surged past his card-playing partner, Ryan Lochte, who was third, behind Laszlo Cseh of Hungary.
''Ryan's coming along like a freight train,'' Phelps said. Also, he had checked his messages from friends all over the world. Not given to public introspection, Phelps seemed to realize how many people were pulling for him -- not just NBC and the sponsors, either. This awareness actually seemed to jangle his nerves a bit, in a good way.
''I can't believe how excited I am to post this time,'' he said.
Having said that, he tried to brush away what he had just accomplished, breaking his own world record.
''I'm not downplaying this race by any means, but I have to put that race behind me,'' Phelps said. ''I have to act like it never happened, because I have so many tough races ahead of me.''
