Gentleman of the Pool

By Alice Park/Athens

It was an irresistible formula for concocting the most popular Olympic event of the opening week. Start with an unroofed pool venue, which became a boisterous, giant tanning bed during the scorching morning races, add in the lure of an athlete who might be undone by hubris, and you have an Olympic experience that is hard to match.

Michael Phelps did not win the prize the world was watching for--capturing the most gold medals in a single Games--but he did achieve an Olympian feat nonetheless, matching the most medals, eight, earned at an Olympics. Pulled along in his powerful wake, the U.S. team achieved its own victory, particularly on the men's side, by ending the competition with a world-record win in the medley relay and taking home three more golds than it did in 2000. It was a spectacular week of racing, in which tight match-ups crowned first-time Olympic champions like Japan's Kosuke Kitajima and France's Laure Manaudou, and the fast fields proved too much for golden oldies like Russia's Alexander Popov.

Phelps may have entered Athens a phenom, but he left a sportsman. On day three of his golden quest, he chose to swim in the 200-m freestyle, knowing he was not favored. Racing stroke for stroke against Olympic champions Ian Thorpe of Australia and Pieter van den Hoogenband of the Netherlands, Phelps finished third, giving notice that he could compete with the best. "Racing the two greatest freestylers of all time in an Olympic final--it's fun," Phelps said after the race. "I had fun out there."

He then shared it, telling his coach he wanted to give up the butterfly leg in the closing medley relay to teammate Ian Crocker, who earlier in the week cost the team the 4 100-m freestyle relay title. "He wasn't feeling too well [then], and I was willing to give him a chance to step up," says Phelps. "It was the right thing to do."

Even after the Spitzian attempt for a record harvest of gold had evaporated into the blazing heat, fans were too invested in the sheer breadth of Phelps' program to abandon their new Olympic hero. They continued to stream in, not just into the Aquatic Center in Athens but also via NBC's coverage. The pool venue sold out every day, according to organizers, and by Day Three, TV ratings exceeded those from the Sydney Games, no doubt owing to the unfolding drama of Phelps' staggering effort. --By Alice Park/Athens