Sunday, August 17, 2008 - 1:43 PM

Michael Phelps has created Olympic history after winning his eighth gold medal of the Beijing Games in the United States' 4x100 metres medley relay triumph.

Phelps's eighth victory in the Water Cube eclipses fellow American Mark Spitz's 36-year-old record of seven gold medals at the Munich Games.

Swimming the third butterfly leg of the relay, Phelps helped the Americans recapture their lead over the Australian team, who finished with an admirable silver, to win in a world record time of 3 minutes 29.34 seconds.

Australia's team of Hayden Stoeckel, Brenton Rickard, Andrew Lauterstein and Eamon Sullivan finished in 3:30.04 and Japan took bronze in 3:31.18.

Phelps leaves Beijing as the most successful Olympian of all time with 14 gold medals, topping the previous record of nine held jointly by Spitz, Carl Lewis, Finnish distance runner Paavo Nurmi and Soviet gymnast Larysa Latynina.

His emphatic victory came after a mixed final day for the Australians with team captain Grant Hackett falling short of his bid to become the first male swimmer to win three consecutive gold medals in the same event.

Hackett claimed the silver behind Tunisian bolter Oussama Mellouli who finished in a time slower than the 28-year-old Australian's Games record heat time.

The Australian team's campaign was given a lift in the next race however, with a fantastic victory by the women's 4x100 metres medley relay team.

Fitting finale


The Americans were third when Phelps entered the water for the 100m butterfly leg with Australia second, 0.81 seconds behind leader Japan.

But a typically mesmerising second 50m by Phelps helped restore a winning advantage for freestyle anchor swimmer Jason Lezak, who helped secured Phelps's second gold with a famous victory in the 4x100m relay.

Eamon Sullivan tried valiantly to peg back the difference with a 46.65 but fell just short as the swimming meet ended in historic fashion.

Backstroke champion Aaron Peirsol and breaststroker Brendan Hansen completed the other two legs for the US.