Phelps wins another gold, sets another record

BEIJING - Michael Phelps' Beijing experience has been reminiscent of Bill Murray's in the movie

Groundhog Day

.

The American medal machine's Olympic routine at the National Aquatics Center is relived day after day.

Phelps marches poolside. The race begins. He wins. He sets a world record. He accepts roses and a gold medal. He stands at attention for the Star Spangled Banner. He acknowledges the crowd's cheers. He tries to assess his unimaginable feat for the media.

And then he's off to continue chasing history.

That scene was replayed again this morning as Phelps won his sixth gold medal, defeating teammate Ryan Lochte in the 200-meter individual medley, and setting a sixth world record in the process.

Phelps' time of 1 minute, 54.23 seconds was 0.57 of a second below his own world mark. He established that record margin in the first 50, with his butterfly leg, and maintained it throughout.

The silver medal went to Laszlo Cseh of Hungary with a time of 1:56.52, 2.29 seconds off Phelps' pace and a mere 0.01 ahead of Lochte, who won the bronze medal.

Phelps came out for the race in his long robe, looking like the heavyweight puncher he is. He was listening to his iPod, his normal prerace pattern.

He removed the robe, then the earphone, and got poised for the start. He blazed to the lead and, essentially, this event was over.

Afterward, he was more interested in talking about how happy he was that Lochte won gold and how tough tomorrow's 100-meter butterfly will be.

"That's going to be a very tough race," Phelps said. "For me to be a player in that race, I've got to go under 50 [seconds]. In the qualifying last night, I was a full body length behind after the first 50 [meters]. I've got to go out there and push the pace for the first 50."

Seven minutes after his gold-medal ceremony, his gold medal stored in the pocket of the warm-ups he'd worn, Phelps was in the pool again, racing in the 100-meter butterfly semifinals. He won his heat, but his time was 50.97, slower than he predicted he will need tomorrow.

Lochte, meanwhile, had competed in the 200-meter backstroke final 30 minutes earlier, winning another American gold medal.

"It felt good to finally win one," Lochte said of his first Olympic gold medal.

Lochte had the fastest qualifying time in the 200-meter IM. His 1:57.69 was a hundreth of a second faster than Phelps' qualifying time.

The question of whether Phelps can break Mark Spitz's single-Games record of seven gold medals is nearly moot. The more intriguing question seems to be who will show up at the National Aquatics Center to watch.

President Bush and family were there for the first gold medal. On Wednesday, NBA stars Kobe Bryant and LeBron James watched him win two more.

"That was pretty cool," Phelps said of the latter visitors.

Lochte had competed in the 200-meter backstroke final 30 minutes earlier, winning another American gold medal.

This latest victory was Phelps' 12th gold medal in two Olympics, a total no other Olympian has matched.

His toughest remaining challenge will come tomorrow in the 100-meter butterfly. Well-rested American Ian Crocker, who owns the event's five-year-old world record, figures to challenge him there.

Crocker has had time to relax and focus. The 100 butterfly qualifying races are his only ones so far, though he could be on the 4x100-meter medley relay team with Phelps.

Phelps, by comparison, will have been in the pool 17 times when he finishes on Sunday.

"The schedule that Michael has been keeping is just unbelievable," U.S. coach Eddie Reese said.

To sustain his strength and energy, the 23-year-old loads up - and "loads up" does not convey the enormity of it - on carbohydrates and quite a few other food groups as well.

Phelps' diet has been revealed here at the Games, and it's as remarkable as some of his world records.

For breakfast, he has three fried-egg sandwiches with cheese, mayo and the works; a five-egg omelet; a bowl of grits; three slices of French toast; three chocolate-chip pancakes, and two cups of coffee.

At lunch, it's a pound of pasta, two ham-and-cheese sandwiches, and several energy drinks.

Then, for dinner, the 6-foot-5, 195-pound swimmer consumes another pound of pasta, a pizza, and a few more energy drinks.

Anyway, back to swimming. The three times Crocker has beat Phelps - at the 2003 world championships, the 2004 Olympic trials, and the 2005 world championships - it took a world record.

But while Crocker was the record-holder at the time, Phelps defeated him in the race at Athens in 2004 and again at last year's world championships.

Should Phelps win tomorrow, he would be set up for the last event in the nine-day swimming program, the 4x100-meter medley relay, which would be Sunday morning here, Saturday at 10:58 p.m. in Philadelphia.