The home team celebrated when Liu Zige won the women's 200-meter butterfly for China's first swimming gold medal of the games, setting a world record of 2 minutes, 4.18 seconds. Jiao Liuyang also went under the previous best to give the teammates a 1-2 finish and send the crowd into a frenzy.
Led by Stephanie Rice, the Australians set the 18th world swimming record of the Beijing Games in the women's 800-meter freestyle relay, obliterating the previous mark by nearly six seconds to upset the Americans. The U.S. had won that event all three times since it was added to the Olympic program in 1996, but they couldn't match the Aussies' blazing time of 7:44.31 that shattered the previous record by an astonishing 5.78. China held off the Americans to win silver.
Japan's Kosuke Kitajima completed a historic second straight Olympic double in the breaststroke with a win in the 200, the first swimmer to claim gold in both the 100 and 200 at consecutive games. With five golds and five world records already, Phelps merely had to get by the semifinals of the 200 IM. He won his heat and moved on to Friday with the second-best qualifying time, 1:57.70. Fellow American and leading rival Ryan Lochte posted the top time of 1:57.69, ensuring they will be side by side for the final.
"I feel fine," said Phelps, already the winningest Olympian ever and taking aim at Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals in a single games. "I think over the next few days the biggest thing is going to be trying to get as much rest as I can. If I can do that, I'll be fine."
Lochte had a busy morning, also qualifying for the final of the 200 backstroke. He advanced with the second-best time, 1:55.40, trailing teammate Aaron Peirsol's 1:55.26.
Rice has emerged as the female star of the games, winning three gold medals with three world record times.
Then there's Katie Hoff. The 19-year-old American again failed to win her first Olympic gold, having settled for one silver and two bronzes in five events. She's got only one race left on her busy program.
Alain Bernard of France redeemed himself for getting caught on the anchor leg in the 400 free relay, beating Australian rival Eamon Sullivan in the 100 freestyle. It was a bit of a letdown, though, when the furious race failed to set a world record, which has become the norm at the Beijing Games.
Bernard and Sullivan traded off the record in the semifinals, the Aussie winding up with the ultimate mark of 47.05. They were stroke for stroke throughout the down-and-back final, but it was Bernard who touched first in 47.21. Sullivan claimed silver in 47.32, while Jason Lezak of the U.S. and Brazil's Cesar Cielo shared the bronze.
Pieter van den Hoogenband of the Netherlands called it a career. The Flying Dutchman announced his retirement immediately after a fifth-place finish.
Kitajima lived up to his favorite's billing in the 200 breast, winning easily in 2:07.64 but coming up 0.13 short of his own world record, set in June. With top rival Brendan Hansen not even in the field - he shockingly failed to qualify for the event at the U.S. trials - Kitajima finished a half-body length ahead of silver medalist Brenton Rickard of Australia (2:08.88) to match his two breaststroke golds in Athens four years ago. France's Hugues Duboscq claimed the bronze.
"I was so calm that I think I could have seen each face in this venue," Kitajima said. "I enjoyed my race."
So did Lezak, the oldest man on the U.S. swim team at 32. After chasing chased down Bernard in the relay to make sure Phelps stayed on course for eight gold medals, Lezak added to his tally with the first individual medal of his Olympic career.
Four years ago, Lezak made a grievous mistake in the preliminaries of the 100 free. He tried to conserve his energy in the preliminaries and wound up getting eliminated.
"It's been eating at me for a long time," the three-time Olympian said. "So to go out there and accomplish a medal is really exciting. It doesn't top the relay medal, but it's something I've been pushing for for years."
