VOA标准英语2008年-Phelps Wins Record-tying 7th Olympic Gold

American Michael Phelps has tied legendary¹ swimmer Mark Spitz's Olympic Gold record, winning his seventh gold medal at the Beijing Olympics. Phelps has been winning by world record times in all of his events. His latest time was only an Olympic record. But VOA's Jim Stevenson reports from Beijing that his margin² of victory was a small as it gets.
　

Michael Phelps answers reporters' questions during Beijing press conference, 15 Aug 2008

In less than the blink of an eye, Michael Phelps touched the wall ahead of Serbia's Milorad Cavic to win the men's 100-meter butterfly. No one in the Water Cube who witnessed the race knew who had won. Neither did Phelps or Cavic.

The answer came from the electronic timing³ system, which showed Phelps had touched in 50.58 seconds. He commented on the mere⁴ one-100th of one second difference from Cavic.

"One -100th (of a second) is the smallest margin of victory in our sport. And it was pretty cool. I guess that is all I can say," he said.

Serbia immediately filed a protest once the results were shown on the Water Cube scoreboard. Phelps was only seventh at the 50-meter turn, and it seemed impossible that he could have surged in front at the end.

But officials from FINA, swimming's world governing body, quickly reviewed the finish. Ben Ekumbo of Kenya was the event referee⁵.

"It is evident from the video that it was an issue of stroking. One was stroking, and the other was gliding⁶. We use automatic timing systems. And the timing system in this case was in perfect order," he said.

Cavic was not interested the protest. He was simply thrilled to get a silver medal.

"It is a gold medal at stake. It is a difficult thing to lose. But you have to understand, I came into this competition with the goal to win the bronze medal," he said.

That bronze went to Andrew Lauterstein of Australia. By another margin of one-100th of a second, he edged previous world record holder⁷ Ian Crocker of the United States off the medal podium.

Phelps is now tied with fellow-American Mark Spitz who won seven gold swimming medals at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

"It really shows that no matter what you set your imagination to, anything can happen. If you dream as big as you can dream, then anything is possible," he said.

Michael Phelps's dream is to win an unprecedented⁸ eighth gold on Sunday. He will have to rely on his teammates to do it in the difficult four-by-100 meter medley⁹ relay final.

1 legendary   

adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学）

参考例句：

• Legendary stories are passed down from parents to children.传奇故事是由父母传给孩子们的。
• Odysseus was a legendary Greek hero.奥狄修斯是传说中的希腊英雄。

2 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。

3 timing   

n.时间安排，时间选择

参考例句：

• The timing of the meeting is not convenient.会议的时间安排不合适。
• The timing of our statement is very opportune.我们发表声明选择的时机很恰当。

4 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

5 referee   

n.裁判员．仲裁人，代表人，鉴定人

参考例句：

• The team was left raging at the referee's decision.队员们对裁判员的裁决感到非常气愤。
• The referee blew a whistle at the end of the game.裁判在比赛结束时吹响了哨子。

6 gliding   

v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的

参考例句：

• Swans went gliding past. 天鹅滑行而过。
• The weather forecast has put a question mark against the chance of doing any gliding tomorrow. 天气预报对明天是否能举行滑翔表示怀疑。

7 holder   

n.持有者，占有者；(台，架等)支持物

参考例句：

• The holder of the office of chairman is reponsible for arranging meetings.担任主席职位的人负责安排会议。
• That runner is the holder of the world record for the hundred-yard dash.那位运动员是一百码赛跑世界纪录的保持者。

8 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

9 medley   

n.混合

参考例句：

• Today's sports meeting doesn't seem to include medley relay swimming.现在的运动会好象还没有混合接力泳这个比赛项目。
• China won the Men's 200 metres Individual Medley.中国赢得了男子200米个人混合泳比赛。