Twelve-Year Anniversary of Michael Phelps’ Magic Touch in 100 Butterfly (Video)
Today marks the 12th anniversary of Michael Phelps’ come-from-behind triumph over Serbia’s Milorad Cavic in the 100-meter butterfly at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. With a half-stroke at the finish, Phelps defeated Cavic by the slimmest of margins, 50.58 to 50.59. The victory was the seventh of the week for Phelps, and tied him with Mark Spitz for the most gold medals in a single Olympiad. More, the dramatic performance set the stage for Phelps to win his record-setting eighth gold medal in the 400 medley relay.
Controversy followed the race when the Serbian Federation filed a protest, contending that Cavic touched the wall ahead of Phelps. Ultimately, that protest was rejected and the result stood. The late-race decision by Phelps, in which he innately opted for a half-stroke, marked one of several spectacular finishes in his career. Simply, it was an instance of an all-time great knowing how to maximize his effort and do what was necessary to prevail. At the 2004 Olympics and 2007 World Championships, Phelps delivered late rallies to beat countryman Ian Crocker by tight margins in the 100 butterfly.
“When I did chop the last stroke, I thought that had cost me the race,” said Phelps, whose triumph was the second of three straight in the event. “But it was actually the opposite. If I had glided, I would have been way too long. I took short, faster strokes to try to get my hand on the wall. I ended up making the right decision.”
At various points in the decade-plus that has passed since that 2008 showdown in the Water Cube, Cavic has maintained he won the race. That opinion was expressed in a recent feature article by The Ringer’s John Gonzalez.
Video of the race and Phelps’ finish are available here.
Don’t glide into your finish
Drew Boyd or lift your chin.
Rick that too!
Drew Boyd swimming 101
Magical fraud…???
Aleksandar Mirimanov live by electronic clocks and die by them. Lifts his chin and had glided in. No one’s fault, but, his own.
Aleksandar Mirimanov, it was reviewed multiple times from multiple angles by multiple people…. get over it….
Now the fraud committed by the East German women’s swimming team by their systematic DOPING cheated the world! What say you?
Spot on!
Cavic will always be know for losing, and then whining like a little girl.
Unwritten rule, as Alex Popov told Milorad, you gotta hit hard that sensor.
Phelps touches with one hand above the other, unlike Cavic’s legal finish. They could have called it a tie, and added an asterisk with a footnote in the record books, but it’s kind of like so many of the meets the Bears lost due to diving….
Still the best race ever