Now THAT's classy.

[Martrae]

After Five Golds, Phelps Bows Out of Relay
Aug 20, 4:57 PM (ET)

By PAUL NEWBERRY

ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Michael Phelps swam the race of his life - then topped himself again. Capping a magnificent Olympics with a magnanimous gesture, Phelps matched Mark Spitz's record of four individual swimming gold medals and then gave up a coveted spot on the 400-meter medley relay team to Ian Crocker - the man Phelps had just beaten.

With five golds and seven medals overall, Phelps is content to win a historic eighth medal while sitting in the stands Saturday night.

His Olympics are over.

"We came into this meet as a team," Phelps said. "We'll leave here as a team."

In an Olympics that became his personal showcase, the 19-year-old from Baltimore came through with another stirring performance in the 100 butterfly. He had every reason to be tired, racing for the 17th time in seven days. And he was taking on Crocker - the world record-holder, the guy who beat Phelps at both the world championships and the U.S. Olympic trials.

Midway through the race, it seemed as though Phelps had met his match. Crocker led his teammate by a half-body length, making the turn under world-record pace. Phelps was lagging in fifth, his quest for another gold in serious jeopardy.

But Phelps' huge wingspan began to dig furiously into the water, leaving behind a wake that resembled a washing machine cleaning a load of clothes. With 20 meters to go, he had pulled up on Crocker's shoulder. At the wall, both men lunged for the gold.

Phelps got it, beating Crocker by a minuscule four-hundredths of a second in an Olympic record of 51.25. Andriy Serdinov of Ukraine took the bronze with a time of 51.36.

"He's a great champion," said International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge, who watched Phelps' victory from a front-row seat at the Aquatic Center. "Definitely, he is going to be one of the icons of the games."

Normally, the winner of the 100 fly gets a spot in the medley relay final. But Phelps, who already had taken part in the morning preliminaries, decided to give his spot to Crocker. Everyone who participate on a top-three relay team - whether it's the preliminaries or a final - receives a medal.

The United States has never lost a medley relay at the Olympics, and this American team will be an overwhelming favorite to keep that streak alive - no matter if it's Crocker instead of Phelps swimming the fly.

Therefore, Phelps still is likely to tie Soviet gymnast Aleksandr Dityatin's record of eight medals in one Olympics, accomplished at the boycotted 1980 Moscow Games.

While saying he feels Crocker is a better relay swimmer, Phelps' main concern was Crocker's poor performance in the 400 free relay last Sunday. A dismal opening leg put the Americans in a hole, and they settled for bronze.

"It's tough to give up the relay. It really is," Phelps said. "But Ian is one of the greatest relay swimmers in the world. He wasn't feeling well during the 400 relay. Hopefully, he'll step up big in the medley relay."

Phelps probably also was sensitive to the teammates who have been overshadowed by his amazing accomplishments leading up to the Athens Games.

"It's the right thing to do," he said.

Spitz was in the stands to watch Phelps' final race in Athens. As the teenager walked around the deck with his latest gold medal, he spotted Spitz holding up four fingers.

"What he did was an amazing accomplishment," Phelps said. "Just to be mentioned in the same sentence with him is unbelievable."

In all, Spitz won a record seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Games. Phelps will fall short of that record, but this performance - in a swimming world that is much more competitive than it was three decades ago - could very well be more impressive than the one he was chasing.

The United States picked up another gold medal Friday night in the 50 free, where 29-year-old Gary Hall Jr. defended the title he shared with fellow American Anthony Ervin in Sydney four years ago.

It was an especially sweet victory for the irreverent Hall, who was upset about being left off a couple of U.S. relay teams. Swimming as though he had something to prove, he recovered from a slow start to touch in 21.93 - beating Croatia's Duje Draganja by one-hundredth of a second.

Hall ripped off his cap, threw up his arms in a defiant pose and climbed out of the pool to take a bow. He plans to be back in 2008.

"Why not?" he said, savoring the 10th medal of his career. "Defiance. It's fun."

Roland Schoeman of South Africa, a close friend of Hall's, took the bronze in 22.02. Another American, Jason Lezak, was fifth in 22.11.

Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe won her third medal of the games, capturing gold in the 200 backstroke. She led all the way and finished in 2:09.19. Russia's Stanislava Komarova took silver in 2:09.72, while the bronze went to Reiko Nakamura of Japan in 2:09.88.

Coventry swims at Auburn University, although her family remains in the Zimbabwe capital of Harare. She already had a silver from the 100 back and a bronze from the 200 individual medley.

American Margaret Hoelzer finished fifth.

The United States lost its hold on the women's 800 freestyle when Ai Shibata of Japan won gold in 8:25.54 - the first major international medal of her career. Laure Manaudou of France claimed silver in 8:24.96, her third medal of these games.

The U.S. team did manage a medal when Diana Munz beat out countrywoman Kalyn Keller for the bronze, overtaking her in the final meters. Munz's time was 8:26.61 - just 36-hundredths ahead of Keller in the grueling race, the longest on the women's program.

The Americans had won the event in five consecutive Olympics, including back-to-back titles by Janet Evans in 1988 and 1992 and Brooke Bennett in 1996 and 2000. Tiffany Cohen started the streak at the boycotted 1984 Los Angeles Games.

Munz had no complaints about finishing third. She had expected to swim the 800 at the Sydney Games, only to get squeezed out of a spot at the U.S. trials by just five-hundredths of a second.

"It was a long wait, but I've done it," Munz said. "I trained four years ... so of course I'm excited and happy that I'm third."

[Herko]

That is awesome. really, thats thats cool.

[The Kizzy]

I found out that my sisters husbands mothers neighbors daughter is on the swim team, shes from Granbury, Texas where I grew up.