Michael Phelps represented the United States at the 2008 Summer Olympics. He qualified to compete in three team and five individual events, winning the gold medal in all eight events:
Date (in Beijing) Event Results Time
August 10 400 m individual medley Gold Medal, World Record 4:03.84
August 11 4 x 100 m freestyle relay Gold Medal, World Record 3:08.24
August 12 200 m freestyle Gold Medal, World Record 1:42.96
August 13 200 m butterfly Gold Medal, World Record 1:52.03
August 13 4 x 200 m freestyle relay Gold Medal, World Record 6:58.56
August 15 200 m individual medley Gold Medal, World Record 1:54.23
August 16 100 m butterfly Gold Medal, Olympic Record 50.58
August 17 4 x 100 m medley relay Gold Medal, World Record 3:29.34
Michael Phelps set an Olympic record in the preliminary heats of the men's 400-meter individual medley. He followed that up in the final by winning the gold medal, as well as breaking his previous world record by nearly two seconds.
Michael Phelps swam the first leg of the men's 4x100 m freestyle relay in a time of 47.51 seconds (an American record for the 100 m freestyle), and won his second gold medal of the 2008 Olympics, as well as setting his second world record of the Olympics (3:08.24). Teammate Jason Lezak, after beginning his leg more than half a body length behind the French, managed to finish ahead of the second-place French team by eight hundredths of a second. The top five teams in the final finished ahead of the world record of 3:12.23 set the day before by the American B team in a preliminary heat.
For his third race, Michael Phelps broke his previous World Record in the 200-meter freestyle by nearly a second and won his third gold medal. He also set his third world record at the Olympics, 1:42.96, winning by nearly two seconds over silver medalist Park Tae-hwan. Michael Phelps became only the fifth Olympic athlete in recent history to win nine career gold medals, along with Mark Spitz, Larissa Latynina, Paavo Nurmi, and Carl Lewis.