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.

“I wasn’t comfortable after the first 200, seeing everybody so close together,” he said.

“It’s usually not how it is after the first 200. I think it made my breaststroke a lot stronger. And at that point, coming home in the freestyle, it’s all adrenaline.” Said Cseh: "Any time you think you can get close to Michael Phelps, he jumps to another level."

For the hype about Phelps versus Lochte, there’s one problem: Lochte has yet to beat him in a 400 individual medley final. This one was over after Lochte extended himself in the backstroke. “I went out too fast. I knew I had to go out fast in order to be in the race,” Lochte said. “If I had gone a couple of tenths slower on the backstroke, I would have had a better shot. I did my best. I can’t ask for anything else.”

In the final event of the morning program, the American women placed second in the 400 freestyle relay, in 3:34.33, behind the gold medalists, the Netherlands.

Subdued entry into semi-finals

WORLD champion Michael Phelps followed up his golden start to the Olympics on Sunday by easing into the men’s 200 metres freestyle semi-finals without fanfare.

Back in the pool only hours after winning the 400 individual medley in world record time, the 23-year-old American finished second in his heat to Switzerland’s Dominik Meichtry and fourth overall. Phelps had no need to stretch himself and his time of 1:46.48 was almost pedestrian compared to the world record of 1.43.86 he set in Melbourne last year and Meichtry’s 1:45.80.

“Tonight was a race to get in to tomorrow, that’s all,” said Phelps. “I tried to conserve everything, recover and get out of here so I don’t get too run down. This morning was pretty emotional.”

And another time falls

The United States set a world record in the men’s 400-metre freestyle relay preliminaries. The team of Nathan Adrian, Cullen Jones, Ben Wildman-Tobriner and Matt Grevers won their heat Sunday in three minutes, 12.23 seconds, erasing the old mark of 3:12.46 set by the United States at the 2006 Pan Pacific championships in Victoria, British Columbia.