For those who may have been bored by the apparent ease in which Michael Phelps has been collecting gold in his previous six events, they got drama and excitement last night.

Michael Phelps won his seventh gold medal of the Beijing Olympics last night, edging Milorad Cavic by a .01 of second in the 100m butterfly on Friday night at the pool, commonly called the "Water Cube."

With this, Phelps' seventh gold, he ties Mark Spitz's 36-year-old record from the 1972 Munich Olympics.

The Serbian federation filed a written protest to FINA, swimming's world governing body, contesting the result, but Serbian officials were shown video of the finish and agreed not to pursue it further.

In all replays and from all angles, it showed clearly - in as, .01 seconds can be clearly shown - that Phelps had won, according to USA Swimming's Jamie Fabos Olsen.

Cavic, who swam in college at the University of California-Berkeley and now trains in Florida, said, "If it was up to me, I would just drop the protest. I'm stoked with what happened. I don't want to fight this."

Still, Cavic said he wasn't sure the fastest swimmer won. "Is Michael Phelps the gold-medal winner? I think if we got to do this again, I would win it," he said.

That may be true - on any other day.

This event is not Michaels Phelps' best. He favors longer swims where his endurance and strength can make up for errors he may commit. However, in the event now over, he won the gold and he was the fastest. It's official.

Phelps, who was seventh out of eight swimmers at the first wall but made up ground with his turn, still looked to be behind Cavic in the final meters but touched first in an Olympic record 50.58 to Cavic's 50.59. Phelps took a half stroke to the wall and Cavic glided in.

Last on the menu is the 4 x 100m medley set for tonight. This race will, barring any unforeseen catastrophe, put Michael Phelps over the top. Team USA are heavy favorites and it should be a romp. A victory there will give Michael a perfect 8 events and the well deserved title of "The World's Greatest Athlete."

A Review Of The Numbers

7

Gold medals won by Michael Phelps in Beijing (200m free, 100m fly, 200m fly, 200m IM, 400m IM, 4x100m free and 4x200m free)

6

World records set by Phelps in Beijing

17 Races swum by Phelps in Beijing, counting the 4x100m medley relay new

3,400

Meters swum by Phelps in Beijing, in races alone, equal to about 2.1 miles

6

Current world records held by Phelps (200m free, 200m fly, 200m IM, 400m IM, 4x100m free relay, 4x200m free relay)

2.32

Margin of victory, in seconds, for Phelps in the 400m IM in Beijing

1.89

Margin of victory for Phelps in the 200m freestyle

7.18

Combined margin of victory for Phelps in his five individual events

.01

Margin of victory for Phelps in the 100m butterfly, where he touched out Mike Cavic by a fingernail

13

Career Olympic gold medals won by Phelps

15

Career Olympic medals won by Phelps

47.51

American record set by Michael Phelps in leading off the 4x100m freestyle relay

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