SYDNEY, (Australia) - MISTAKES by his rivals helped American Michael Phelps win 8 gold medals at the Beijing Olympics, world record-breaking Australian swimmer Eamon Sullivan said on Friday.

Sullivan, who broke the world 100m freestyle record in the semi-finals at Beijing but finished 2nd in the final, said Phelps was able to break Mark Spitz's record of 7 golds at one Olympics through good fortune and some small errors by rivals.

'There was an element of luck,' Sullivan said.

Phelps came from behind to beat Serbia's Milorad Cavic by 0.01 sec in the 100m butterfly final and needed an outstanding swim by anchorman Jason Lezak to win gold in the 4x100m freestyle relay.

'100 flys...always comes down to finishes and some would say Cavic's finish was - it was at that point of 50-50 whether you take another stroke or you take a glide,' Sullivan said.

'You see Phelpsy took another stroke, he (Cavic) took a glide and obviously (Phelps') arms are coming over at a faster pace.'

'He (Phelps) made the right decision and the other guy made the wrong decision.'

'But if he (Phelps) had made the other decision, he might not have been as lucky and he might have come away with a second and he would have come away with equaling (Spitz's record).'

'I'm not saying he didn't deserve it, I'm saying he did everything he could do to win those golds and he came away with it, but at the same time there were little mistakes by other people that allowed him to do that.'

Sullivan expects to clash with Phelps in the 50m and 100m freestyle at next year's world championships and warned the American of stiffer competition ahead.

'He better bring his A-game because we are not going go easy on him.' -- AP