Phelps wins historic eighth gold

Phelps wins historic eighth gold

Video - Phelps wins record eighth gold

Michael Phelps won his eighth Olympic gold medal of the Beijing Games to beat Mark Spitz's 1972 record of seven, with victory in the 4x100m medley.

The 23-year-old American teamed up with Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hansen and Jason Lezak to claim the historic gold in a new world record time.

They held off Australia and Japan to claim glory in a world record time of three minutes 29.34 seconds.

Great Britain's quartet finished back in sixth place.

Phelps had already won the 400m medley, 200m freestyle, 200m butterfly, 4x100m free relay, 4x200m free relay, 200m medley and the 100m butterfly.

It also took his Olympic medal haul to 14 golds, and 16 overall.

Victory in the 4x100m relay rounded off a remarkable Olympics for Phelps, who has dominated the action in the Water Cube, but his final triumph was far from straightforward.

Phelps dived into the water for the third leg butterfly with his team in third position but he powered them into the lead.

Australian Eamon Sullivan tried to chase the Americans down but Lezak held on to clinch Phelps' record win.

Phelps admitted to being overwhelmed after achieving his feat, and was quick to pay tribute to his team-mates.

"I don't even know what to feel right now," Phelps said.

"There are so many emotions going through my head and so much excitement. I kind of just want to see my mom.

"Without the help of my team-mates this isn't possible.

"I was able to be a part of three relays and we were able to put up a solid team effort and we came together as one unit.

"For the three Olympics I've been a part of, this is by far the closest men's team that we've ever had.

"I didn't know everybody coming into this Olympics, but I feel going out I know every single person very well. The team that we had is the difference."

He added: "Nothing is impossible.

"With so many people saying it couldn't be done, all it takes is an imagination, and that's something I learned and something that helped me."