For years, no one believed any mortal could better Mark Spitz's seven-gold haul at 1972. Yesterday, no one believed Michael Phelps would not. But then is he a mere mortal?

Yet the 23-year-old, who as a child in Baltimore, US, had a screaming fit at his first swimming lesson because he did not want to get his face wet, showed he was human after all. "The first thing I'd like to do to my mum is just hug her," said Phelps, whose parents separated when he was young.

"It's been nothing but an upwards roller-coaster but it's been nothing but fun," he said at his moment of triumph, embracing his tearful mother and sister. "With so many people saying it couldn't be done, all it takes is an imagination."

  

Combination of eight pictures showing Michael Phelps of the US displaying the eight gold medals he won at the swimming events during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games . From L to R, top row : men's 4 x 100m medley on August 17, 100m butterfly on August 16, men's 200m individual medley on August 15, men's 4 x 200m freestyle relay on August 13. From L to R, bottom row : men's 200m butterfly on August 13, men's 200m freestyle on August 12, men's 4X100m freestyle relay on August 11, men's 400m individual medley on August 10. [Agencies]
  

From the minute he walked into the Water Cube at the head of the US team, the whole world knew history was there for the making.

Phelps had equaled Spitz's record on Saturday. He already had the highest haul of Olympics gold. So what more did he need? One last gold to add to a heap of bullion that exceeds anything the Olympics has ever seen (14 golds, six in Athens and eight in Beijing) and to go beyond Spitz's seven-golds-at-a-Games record.

As one newspaper said, only the US president has stood proudly erect through more televised anthems and there has never been a swimmer whose medal-winning has threatened such a serious case of neck-ache. In all likelihood, the airport metal detector will go bananas when he flies back to the US.