Swimming at the 2008 Beijing Summer Games:

This event was the first in Michael Phelps' campaign for eight gold medals but, with the recent form of fellow American Ryan Lochte, not one where he was considered an overwhelming favourite. The event turned into the ultimate statement of intent for Phelps as he was simply a class apart from his rivals and obliterated the world record on his way to the gold medal. He has set the previous mark of 4:05.25 at the US trials in June 2008 but in Beijing he brought the time down to 4:03.84 and finished over two seconds ahead of László Cseh, Jr. with Lochte back in third.