EIGHT FOR PHELPS（含译文）

小臭贝

By KAREN CROUSE
Published: August 16, 2008
BEIJING — With the help of his teammates on Sunday, Michael Phelps surpassed Mark Spitz, 36 years after Spitz’s record haul of seven gold medals at the Munich Games. The United States won the 4x100-meter medley relay in 3:29.34, a world record, for Phelps’ eighth gold medal of the Beijing Games.

Phelps swam the third — the butterfly — leg of the relay. His teammates were Aaron Peirsol (backstroke), Brendan Hansen (breaststroke) and Jason Lezak (freestyle). Australia took silver and Japan the Bronze.

How fabulous was Phelps’s feat? At Sunday’s start, Phelps would have ranked fourth in gold medals, ahead of all but 14 countries in the medal count. Every time Phelps dived into the water for a final here, the ripples extended into every corner of the Water Cube. On Friday, Andrew Lauterstein of Australia won the bronze medal in the 100 butterfly. Standing on the medals podium alongside Phelps, Lauterstein said he was thrilled to have had a cameo role in this recording of history.

Phelps had won his seventh gold medal on Saturday in dramatic fashion in the 100-meter butterfly, by out-touching Serbia’s Milorad Cavic.

Phelps was timed in 50.58, a personal best and an Olympic record. Cavic, a California-Berkeley graduate, was one-hundredth of a second behind. Phelps had caught Spitz by a whisker, tying Spitz’s record haul from the 1972 Munich Games and earning a $1 million bonus from Speedo, one of his sponsors.

With the win, he tied Spitz’s record of seven gold medals in one Olympics. His first six golds were all world records, but No. 7 came down to grit.

About two hours after the 100-meter butterfly, NBC’s Bob Costas interviewed Spitz, via satellite from Detroit, and Phelps, who was still poolside. Spitz said he had wondered what he would say at this monumental time.

“The word that comes to mind is epic,” Spitz said. “What you did tonight was epic, and it was epic for the whole world to see how great you really are.

“I never thought for one moment that you were out of that race,” he added. “That is a tribute to your greatness.”

Spitz went on to talk about role models, and how he admires Phelps not only for his swimming abilities, but also for the type of person he is.

“You weren’t born when I did what I did, and I’m sure I was a part of your inspiration, and I take that as a full compliment,” Spitz said. “They say that you judge one’s character by the company you keep, and I’m certainly happy to keep company with you.”

Phelps responded with admiration for Spitz, the man whose record he has been chasing for several years. In Athens four years ago, Phelps won six golds and two bronzes.

“There have been so many greats who have come before me, and what Mark did is still amazing,” he said. “It’s a very hard thing to accomplish. I think it shows whatever you put your mind to, you really can accomplish.

“When Mark won seven, he put his mind to something and he did everything he could to get there, and it’s the same thing with me.”

译文：
菲尔普斯的八金
卡伦.克劳斯
2008年8月16日
北京-星期日在队友的帮助下，迈克尔.菲尔普斯超过了马克·施皮茨在36年前的慕尼黑奥运会上创下获得7枚金牌的世界纪录，美国队以3:29.34破世界纪录的成绩赢得了4x100混合泳的冠军，为菲尔普斯在北京奥运会上夺得了第8金。

菲尔普斯游第3棒-蝶泳-决定胜负的一棒，他的队友是是佩尔索尔(仰泳)、汉森(蛙泳)、雷扎克(自由泳)，澳大利亚获得了银牌，日本队获得了铜牌。

菲尔普斯的表演是多么令人难以置信呀？在周日开始时，菲尔普斯排在金牌榜第四位，奖牌榜只在14个国家之后，每当菲尔普斯在决赛中披波斩浪，那水波就延伸到水立方的每一个角落。周五，澳大利亚的劳特斯坦获得了100米蝶泳的铜牌，站在领奖台上，菲尔普斯的身边，他说能在这个历史时刻有一个特写，他非常激动。

在周六，在100米蝶泳中，菲尔普斯戏剧性地触壁超过查维奇夺得了他的第七枚金牌。他用时50.58，个人最好成绩和奥运会纪录。查维奇，一个加利福尼亚伯克利的毕业生，只落后百分之一秒。

他差一点就超过施皮茨了，他追平了施皮茨在慕尼黑奥运会上的纪录，并从他的赞助商SPOOD那里获得了100万的奖金。随着获胜，他追平了施皮茨在一届奥运会上七枚金牌的纪录，他的前六枚金牌都打破了世界纪录，但第七块没有打破。

在菲尔普斯赢得100米蝶泳2个小时后，NBC通过卫星采访了马克-施皮茨和在泳池边的菲尔普斯，马克-施皮茨表示在这种时刻他已经不知道该说什么了，他说：“我只能说这是一个具有历史意义的时刻。全人类都见证了这一伟大的时刻。我一直觉得菲尔普斯可以达成他的梦想，我把我最真挚的祝福送给他。” 马克-施皮茨同时表示他非常敬佩菲尔普斯，不仅仅是因为他精湛的游泳技术，还以为他的为人。他说：“虽然在我取得成绩的时候菲尔普斯还没有出生，但是我相信我的成绩是他前进的动力，我把这当作一种荣耀。我很高兴菲尔普斯可以和我站在同一起跑线上，这样让我觉得很自豪。”

菲尔普斯对此做了回应，他表示他非常的崇拜马克-施皮茨，为了追上马克-施皮茨，他一直在努力。在雅典奥运会上，菲尔普斯止步于6金。他说：“在我之前有无数人创造了传奇，但是马克-施皮茨对我来说始终是最大的传奇。他的纪录是很难打破的。但是我一直在努力，所以事实证明，只要用心去做，就一定可以实现。马克-施皮茨之所以能获得7金，是因为他放进了他所有的心思，尽了他全部的努力。与我，也是这样的。”