Thorpedo Sinks Phelps' Shot at Spitz Mark
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The kid couldn't catch the Thorpedo &#151; and he won't be catching Mark Spitz, either. Michael Phelps' quest for seven gold medals ended after just three events, doomed by another bronze Monday night in the most anticipated race at the Olympic pool &#151; the head-to-head showdown with Australia's Ian Thorpe in the 200-meter freestyle.
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American Natalie Coughlin won Olympic gold in the 100-meter backstroke Monday night. Coughlin, the only woman ever to swim under 1 minute in the event, finished first in 1 minute, 0.37 seconds. Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe, who swims at Auburn University in Alabama, earned the silver in 1:00.50. Laure Manaudou of France took bronze in 1:00.88.
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Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe beat  arch-rival Michael Phelps in the men's 200-meter freestyle on  Monday as the United States trailed China, Australia and Japan  in the medals table on day three of the Olympic Games.
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Now this was a duel in the pool. With Michael Phelps leading off Tuesday night, the United States bested its top rival in the most thrilling race of the Athens Games. Klete Keller held off Ian Thorpe and finished the Australians with a lunge for the wall that gave the Americans a gold medal in the 800-meter freestyle relay. The margin was only 13-hundredths of a second.
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ATHENS, Greece -- American Michael Phelps won the gold medal Friday in the 100-meter butterfly with an Olympic-record time of 51.25 seconds.
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Thiago Pereira of Brazil broke the 40-year-old record of Mark Spitz with six swimming gold medals in one Pan American Games.Pareira won the menâs 200-meter breaststroke yesterday to earn his sixth gold medal of these Games, being held in Rio de Janeiro. He finished in 2 minutes 13.51 seconds, beating teammate Henrique Barbosa (2:13.83) and Scott Spann (2.13.98) of the United States.Spitz won five gold medals at the 1967 Pan Am Games in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He was 17 at the time; Pereira is 21.Spitz holds the record of seven Olympic golds won at the 1972 Munich Games.On Friday, Pereira won gold in the 200 medley and the 400 freestyle relay. Earlier, he won the 200 backstroke, the 400 individual medley and the 800 freestyle relay.Pereira has a chance to win two more medals.
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ATHENS, Aug. 17 -- Rarely has a huge lead disappeared so quickly. Largely unheralded US swimmer Klete Keller jumped in the pool for the final leg of the 4x200-meter freestyle relay a second-and-a-half ahead of Australian legend Ian Thorpe.
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ATHENS, Greece - Michael Phelps swam the race of his life - then topped himself again. Capping a magnificent Olympics with a magnanimous gesture, Phelps matched Mark Spitz's record of four individual swimming gold medals and then gave up a coveted spot on the 400-meter medley relay team to Ian Crocker - the man Phelps had just beaten...
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Ian Thorpe became Australia's greatest  Olympian and staked a claim to being the best swimmer of his  generation when he won "the race of the century" at Athens on  Monday.
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Ian Thorpe caught and passed Pieter van den Hoogenband in the final half-lap of the 200-meter freestyle to win the gold. Michael Phelps captured the bronze.
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ATHENS, Greece - The United States won the men's 400-meter medley relay in world-record time Saturday night, giving Michael Phelps his record eighth medal of the Athens Olympics without him getting into the pool. Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hansen, Ian Crocker and Jason Lezak won in 3 minutes, 30.68 seconds, lowering the old mark of 3:31.54 set by the Americans at last year's world championships in Barcelona, Spain...
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Michael Phelps led the United States to  a narrow victory in the men's 4x200 meters freestyle relay at  the Athens Olympics Tuesday to collect his third gold medal in  four days.
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American Michael Phelps broke his own 200 meters butterfly world record when he clocked one minute, 53.71 seconds at the Missouri Grand Prix in Columbia on Saturday.
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Michael Phelps won his second and third  Olympic golds for the United States on Tuesday, setting a new  Games record in the 200-meters butterfly before leading a 4 x  200 freestyle cliffhanger just over an hour later.
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ATHENS, Greece  Take Mark Spitz off his back, and this Phelps kid is pretty fast. &quot;It is,&quot; Michael Phelps conceded, &quot;a little bit easier to get up on the (starting) block.&quot; ...
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Michael Phelps got his eighth medal at  the Athens Olympics Saturday without even getting wet when the  United States broke the world record in the men's 4x100 meters  medley relay.
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Michael Phelps wins the gold Friday in the 100-meter butterfly with an Olympic-record time, his fifth gold medal of the Athens Games.