Take a peek at the world’s fastest

Tagged as the greatest Olympian after winning eight golds in Beijing, Michael Phelps has set seven new world records beating his own records set in his past games.  Of course, he now rewrites Olympic history replacing his compatriot Mark Spitz as the Olympian who won the most golds in a single Olympic Games.

In swimming alone, there were astonishing record breakers. Rebecca Adlington of Great Britain, not only set a record for being the only Briton to win two golds in a single Games in Olympic history, but also surpassing the world record in the 800 meters freestyle by a full two seconds at 8:14.10.  No body has beaten the record of Janet Evans set way back in 1989 in this category, until Adlington went crawling in the water of the pool in the Water Cube. 

Stephanie Rice of Australia was also fantastic in her 200 IM (individual medley) swim setting a world record of 2:08:45.  Kirsty Coventry also set a record at 2:05.24 in the 200M women’s backstroke.  She also set a new world record of 58.77 seconds. for the 100 M backstroke event at semifinals.  Italy’s Federica Pelligrini set a new world record in the finals of the 200 m freestyle with a time of 1:54.82, beating her own personal best and the world record she set in the heats. 

Kitajima Kosuke of Japan swam in Beijing just to beat his own records in the breast stroke events: 2:07.84 in the 200 M and 58.91 in the 100 M swim. Ryan Lochte of the United States beat his own record in 200 m backstroke with a 1:53.94 swim; while team mate Aaron Piersol set another world record with his 52.54 time in the 100 m backstroke event. It was also a sweet victory for Brazilian Cesar Cielo Filho who won the 50 M freestyle event at 21.30 seconds, beating his French rivals by split second and setting a new Olympic record.

Jamaica’s runners have surprised the world with their records going below the standard barriers.  Superman Usain Bolt has lived up to his name, as he ran like a lightning bolt striking out the favorite Americans out of the records and off the golds.  He broke his own record set in the USA earlier this year, with a 9.69 sprint at the 100 m event. He stashed his second gold with another world record of 19.30 at the 200m run.

The Jamaican men’s team also won the gold in the 4x100m relay with a new world record of 37.10 seconds.  Melanie Walker of Jamaica also walked off with a gold medal and an Olympic record of 52.64 seconds in the women’s 400 m hurdles.

Pretty Russian runner Gulnara Galkina-Samitova set a new world record of  8:58.81 in the Women's 3000m Steeplechase.  Compatriot Olga Kaniskina also set an Olympic record at 1:26:21 at the 20 km walk.

So what could have contributed to the amazing record breakers in Beijing?  The newly engineered swimsuit worn by most swimmers supposedly reduces drag. Some runners wore the controversial spring shoes in athletics.  Sports science is definitely far more developed this century, and new techniques have been applied in the athletes’ training programs.  The world’s athletes simply performed very well in Beijing.  The idea of the Olympic Games anyway is all about conquering human ability.The Evolution of men has simply not yet stopped.