Decoded, the questions are: do two swimmers from different eras compare? And does track allow the kind of ambition the pool clearly does, even if only to exceptional men?

Don’t, however, pose that question to Phelps. Legacies are spoken of when one’s work is done. Phelps’s is not. “There are some things, I still want to do,” he said. For his sport, for instance. He knows he has done more to popularise swimming than anybody else. NBC, holders of the broadcast rights for the US, used their clout to have the swimming finals shifted to the morning so they could catch prime time back home. “I think swimming has come a long way,” he said “and it can go even farther. That’s where I want to take it.”

He has been finding that place called Farther in the pool and in post-race press conferences. Phelps takes every question that comes his way. (This readiness had a wit in the Media Press Centre exclaim that the only person who can stop Michael Phelps is the moderator, who often cut him short by reminding him that time was up.)

Why did he display so much emotion after the races? To remember, he said: “I just wanted to make sure I took in every single moment. I didn’t want to forget anything that happened. Those are moments I’ll remember forever.”

And these seven records? “That’s like putting money in the bank,” he said. His coach, he explained, would force him through training by suggesting that this was like putting money in the bank. Now, said Phelps, every last penny has been spent, “it’s time to start redepositing.”

... contd.