He was ready to sing, and really let it fly from the medal podium, but something blocked the way and stopped that grand plan. Tears.

It was the only thing coming close to trumping Michael Phelps today at the Water Cube, and if his world record-setting performance in the 400-metre individual medley was any indication, it might be the only thing to do so in the nine-day Olympic swimming program.

Phelps took his first step to a potential eight gold medals, which would eclipse Mark Spitz’s 1972 record of seven in one Olympics. He did it in emphatic fashion, winning the 400 individual medley in four minutes, 3.84 seconds. Four years ago, he won eight medals in Athens, six of them gold, including this event.

He lowered his own world mark by an incredible 1.41 seconds, and in front of President Bush, no less. Phelps said that he looked into the stands after the race and that Bush nodded and waved the American flag, and that he waved back.

Laszlo Cseh of Hungary was second in 4:06.16, and Phelps’s US teammate and rival, Ryan Lochte, took the bronze in 4:08.09. Phelps first said that he had no idea why he cried so much. “I don’t know why. I said to Bob (Bowman), I wanted to sing on the medal podium, but I couldn’t stop crying,” Phelps said about talking to his coach later.

But he had some theories. There was the broken wrist in the fall of 2007 and then the emergence of Lochte. “Ryan’s coming on like a freight train,” Phelps said. Here, Phelps was the freight train, blowing away the field in the final 200.

... contd.