Phelps Wins Seventh Gold By .01 Seconds

Michael Phelps is a perfect 7-for-7, by one one-hundredth of a second.

If it had been a 95-meter butterfly, Milorad Cavic would have been the gold medalist. But even though he shorted the wall and actually took his final stroke into the wall, Phelps somehow figured out how to win his seventh gold. He was saved by the fact that Cavic's was actually a stroke short--he had to coast for way too long into the wall, which may explain the .01 second difference.

"That's usually when I can try to catch some ground if I need to. I had no idea the race was that close. I was lucky to get my hand in first," Phelps told Andrea Kremer right after the race. "I thought in perfect situations I could do it."

If there is one bit of bad news for Phelps, it's that he finally didn't manage to set a world record. Ian Crocker's world record still stands, although Crocker probably isn't going to get a whole lot of consolation from that--he missed the bronze medal by .01 of a second. Phelps had come into the race with a shot of going a perfect 8-for-8 on world records, he'll have to settle for swimming for a record-breaking eighth gold tomorrow night.