BEIJING -- Michael Phelps won the men's 200m butterfly Wednesday, becoming the athlete who won the most gold medals in Olympic history with 10 gold medals -- and counting.
Phelps touched in 1:52.03 his fourth gold medal and fourth world record in Beijing. The mark had been 1:52.09, set by Phelps at the 2007 World Championships in Melbourne, Australia.
But the race was closer than Phelps expected. Two others went under 1:53. Laslo Cseh of Norway was second in 1:52.70 and Japan's Takeshi Matsuda won the bronze in 1:52.97
As he came off the pool deck, Phelps disclosed that his goggles had filled with water, adding, "I could not believe how close to me those guys were."
Along with the four golds he has now won in Beijing, Phelps won six at the 2004 Athens Games. Phelps also won two bronze medals in 2004.
Coming into Wednesday's action at the Water Cube, Phelps stood at nine career Olympic golds, tied with four others for most career golds, among them Mark Spitz and track star Carl Lewis.
Spitz still holds the mark for most golds won by one athlete in a single Olympics, seven in Munich in 1972.
That's the next goal in Phelps' sights.
He is due later Wednesday to swim in the 4x200m relay. A victory there would mark his fifth gold of the 2008 Games, 11th overall.
Yet to come: the 200m individual medley Friday; the 100m butterfly Saturday; and the 4x100m medley relay, with prelims on Friday, the final Sunday.
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