.01 Victory Gives Phelps 7th Gold Medal in 100m Butterfly

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.01 Victory Gives Phelps 7th Gold Medal in 100m Butterfly

Posted on: August 15th, 2008Joshua Holmes

It is humanly impossible to get any closer to winning or losing than .01 of a second. Michael Phelps, with an extra half-stroke at the end, beat Serbian Milorad Cavic with a time of 50.58 to Cavic’s 50.59. The Serbs protested the race but the review of the tape showed that Phelps had indeed won his eighth gold.

He got his hands on the wall a hundredth of a second ahead of Cavic — a finish so close the Serbians filed a protest and swimming’s governing body had to review the tape down to the 10-thousandth of a second.

“I had no idea,” Phelps said. “I was starting to hurt a little bit with probably the last 10 meters. That was my last individual race, so I was just trying to finish as strong as I could.”

Phelps’ time was 50.58 seconds, the only time in these Olympics that he won an event without breaking the world record.

This race became an instant classic and very easily the most exciting swimming race of all-time.

100 Meter Butterfly Results

Michael Phelps (USA) 50.58
Milorad Cavic (Serbia) 50.59
Andrew Lauterstein (Australia) 51.12

American Ian Crocker finished just outside of the medals with a time of 51.13.

Such an exciting and magical finish to the 100 Meter Butterfly for Phelps. One would have to assume that this is Phelps year and that he will win his eighth gold Saturday night in the 4×100 Meter Medley.

2008 Beijing Gold Medal Checklist for Phelps