Seventh heaven

BEIJING – He did it – barely, barely, barely.

Michael Phelps tied Mark Spitz’s record for the most gold medals at a single Olympics today, getting his seventh in Beijing by winning the 100-meter butterfly by the slimmest of margins – 0.01 seconds.

Phelps had dominated all his previous individual races, and some thought this might be a coronation because the butterfly is his signature stroke. But the 23-year-old from Baltimore looked like an also-ran for much of this one, not leading until the final inches.

“I had no idea,” Phelps said.

Seventh out of eight at the turn, Phelps was closing on the lead headed home. It looked to be too little, too late as Serbia’s Milorad Cavic was gliding toward the wall, but Phelps did another ministroke and smacked the wall with his hands.

“I was starting to hurt a little bit with probably the last 10 meters,” Phelps said. “That was my last individual race, so I was just trying to finish as strong as I could.”

Phelps then pulled off his goggles and looked up at the scoreboard. When he saw the “1” next to his name, he pointed, swung his left arm, then joyously splashed the water.

He’s No. 1 all right. The greatest Olympian, his career haul now up to 13 golds. Add a pair of bronzes and he’s tied former Soviet gymnast Nikolai Andrianov for the most career medals by a male athlete.

He’s also a million bucks richer, courtesy of a bonus put up by sponsor Speedo if he could match Spitz’s feat from the 1972 Munich Olympics.

He’s not done yet. Phelps will swim the butterfly leg of the 400 medley relay Sunday. With a little help from his friends, Phelps could go 8 for 8 in a country that so reveres the number that these games began on 8-8-08.

The weather this morning was the best yet, even clearer skies than the day before, a great way to start a weekend in which 64 gold medals would be decided.

Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry won the first, defending her Olympic title in the women’s 200 backstroke and setting a world record. American Margaret Hoelzer got the silver.

Britain’s Rebecca Adlington broke Janet Evans’ 19-year-old world record in winning the women’s 800 freestyle, and Cesar Cielo won the 50 freestyle, earning Brazil its first gold medal in swimming.

Also, 41-year-old Dara Torres was the fastest qualifier in the women’s 50 freestyle. She’ll have the middle lane for the final Sunday morning.

Over at the Bird’s Nest, Russia’s Valeriy Borchin won the 20-kilometer walk.

The U.S. men’s volleyball team beat China in three sets, but the bigger news was coach Hugh McCutcheon rejoining the team a week after a knife attack that killed his father-in-law and wounded his mother-in-law. The woman, Barbara Bachman, arrived in her home state of Minnesota on Friday for treatment at the Mayo Clinic.

Elsewhere today (Beijing time), Americans Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers advanced to the quarterfinals in beach volleyball with a tight three-set win over a Swiss pair. Heavy favorites to win the gold medal in their Olympic debuts, Dalhausser and Rogers have won three straight since getting upset by 23rd-seeded Latvia in their opener.

Track and field

American Tyson Gay coasted through two 100-meter preliminary heats, showing his left hamstring is just fine six weeks after hurting it at the U.S. Olympic trials.

World record-holder Usain Bolt and the guy he took it from, fellow Jamaican Asafa Powell, also advanced easily to the final 16. All three are expected to make the final – perhaps the most highly anticipated event of the 10-day track and field meet at the Bird’s Nest.

In the men’s 1,500, Bernard Lagat, Leo Manzano and U.S. team flagbearer Lopez Lomong all made it out of their first races.

The men’s shot put was a big disappointment for the Americans. Instead of sweeping, they got only a silver from Christian Cantwell. Poland’s Tomasz Majewski won gold.

Reese Hoffa, the reigning world champion, was seventh and his U.S. teammate Adam Nelson, the two-time Olympic silver medalist, threw with hurt ribs and didn’t make it into the final eight.

“We expected more from ourselves,” Nelson said.

Softball

Jessica Mendoza hit her third homer in two days and Jennie Finch pitched five shutout innings as the U.S. women kept rolling with a 7-0 win today over Taiwan to run their Olympic winning streak to 19.

The Americans (5-0) recorded their fourth shutout in five games and needed just five innings to beat Taiwan (1-4), which hasn’t defeated the U.S. in a major competition since 1982.

Mendoza’s homer leading off the third ignited a five-run outburst for the U.S. team, which has outscored its opponents 36-1 and allowed just four hits in 29 innings.

Women’s basketball

The U.S. women started slowly, then got clicking, pounding Spain 93-55. Tina Thompson scored nine of her 17 points during a game-breaking 20-5 run in the third quarter and Lisa Leslie added 14 points and 11 rebounds.

With the win, the U.S. has 29 straight victories in Olympic contests. The last loss was to the Unified team in the 1992 semifinals.

Tennis

An American won’t win the men’s singles title.

James Blake, the last hope left, lost to Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez, who blew four match points before winning 6-4, 5-7, 11-9.

Blake then accused Gonzalez of failing to concede a point with Gonzalez serving at 8-9 in the final set. On the first point, Blake hit a backhand passing shot long but contended the ball hit Gonzalez’s racket before landing, as TV replays confirmed.

“Playing in the Olympics, in what’s supposed to be considered a gentleman’s sport, that’s a time to call it on yourself,” Blake said. “Fernando looked me square in the eye and didn’t call it.”

Gonzalez said he was uncertain whether the ball hit his racket.

Gonzalez, seeded 12th, will play in Sunday’s final against Rafael Nadal, who beat Novak Djokovic 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 to clinch his first Olympic medal.

Baseball

The U.S. baseball team was in trouble after falling to 1-2 and angering the mighty Cubans by accusing them of dirty play after losing to them 5-4 in 11 innings.

But the Americans rallied with a 5-4 win over Canada as Terry Tiffee doubled in the go-ahead run in the seventh.