Greatest ever Olympian?

　　HE has done what Mohammed Ali did for boxing (拳击), Michael Jordan for basketball, Roger Federer for tennis and Tiger Woods for golf.

　　Twenty-three-year-old Michael Phelps has become a phenomenon (神话) in swimming.

　　At the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, he won eight gold medals. That was more than the whole Australian team could put together. He beat Mark Spitz’s 1972 record of seven wins in the pool at the one Games. Phelps has put his name next to seven world records.

　　Nine days, 17 games, morning and night he competed and won. He had to beat former (从前的) world record-holders and gold medalists. He had to turn their wins into old news.

　　He won in every kind of way. He won the 400 medley (混合泳) by a body length. He won the 100-meter butterfly (蝶泳) by the smallest of margins (距离) – one-hundredth of a second. He won when his goggles (泳镜) leaked (漏水). He won when teammate Lezak advanced (超前) in the final leg of the 4x100m relay.

　　“I’m just lucky to have the drive (动力) that I have, the talent that I have and the excitement for the sport,” Phelps said after winning his last medal.

　　After the Olympics, swimming will not be in the news so much. But Phelps has decided to keep working to popularize it.

　　“I don’t want this sport to be an every-four-years sport,” Phelps said. “Over the past four years, it’s skyrocketed. I’m honored to help this sport for the next generation of swimmers who will have it better than I have.”

　　Bonus

　　“游泳”知多少：

　　freestyle 自由泳

　　backstroke 仰泳

　　breaststroke 蛙泳

　　butterfly 蝶泳