Sports

PHELPS WINS 8TH GOLD MEDAL, BREAKS TIE WITH SPITZ

BEIJING – Like every other opponent at these Olympics, history proved to be no match for Michael Phelps.

Phelps and his U.S. teammates won the gold in the 400-meter medley relay last night at the Water Cube with a world-record time of 3:29.34, giving Phelps his eighth gold medal of these Games and securing his spot in history as the greatest Olympian ever.

Mark Spitz must now move over from the spot he has held for 36 years. Phelps passed him by, completing the quest he could not four years ago in Athens.

Aaron Peirsol put the U.S. in the lead in the backstroke leg, but Brendan Hansen dropped back in the breaststroke, leaving Phelps in third when he jumped into the pool for the butterfly leg. By the time he was done, they were in first and he was on his way to his seventh world record of these Games. Jason Lezak swam the anchor leg and brought home the gold.

Last night’s victory completes as stunning performance by Phelps over the past nine days when he swam 17 races and left with eight golds.

Eight is considered a lucky number in Chinese culture, and it was for Phelps. He won in both dominant and dramatic fashion. The 23-year-old won six of his eight races with barely a challenge from the field and two others by a touch at the wall, one by himself and one by relay teammate Lezak.

Phelps’ journey to the record books began in the Baltimore neighborhood of Rodgers Force when he was seven and he began swimming after watching his sisters compete in the sport. The son of a state trooper and a middle school principal, Phelps was diagnosed with ADHD as a child and swimming gave him an avenue to use his boundless energy.

By age 10, he already was breaking records and in 2000 he qualified for the Sydney Olympics at the age of 15, the youngest American male Olympic swimmer in 68 years. Phelps had watched his sister, Whitney, fail to make the U.S. team in 1996 and became focused on winning gold.

Phelps finished fifth in his race in Australia but four years later he would not be denied. In Athens, Phelps won six gold and two bronze medals, falling just short of tying Spitz and getting a one million dollar bonus from Speedo.

All of that set up this week where Phelps gained a stranglehold on the Olympics and would not let go. The 2008 Games will be known as the Phelps Olympics like the 1976 Games belonged to Nadia Comaneci or Carl Lewis took over the Los Angeles Games.

The nation and the world saw the freak of nature that is Michael Phelps. The long torso, the 79-inch wingspan, the double-jointed ankles that make his size 14 feet act like flippers in the water.

The world watched as he opened the Games here by swimming away from the field in the 400-meter individual medley, then watched the next day as he celebrated on the pool deck as Lezak chased down Frenchman Alain Bernard in the 4×100 freestyle relay to keep the dream alive.

The quest continued all week building to the crescendo of last night when Phelps was the best swimmer in the pool again.

He leaves Beijing with his dream realized, and as an Olympic-sized legend.

brian.costello@nypost.com