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The eight-gold dream of Michael Phelps.
Yesterday the American swam the 200 metres freestyle in 1min 42.96sec, won by almost a body length in a race that's a sprint, and took nearly a second off his world record.
And that wasn't even what he was later congratulated for.
For a man whose life is measured by fractions of a second, the American's worst subject in school was mathematics. But even he could grasp and grin at the strange arithmetic before him yesterday.
Quite simply: While he had won his third gold, and is still some distance from eight, he had joined an elite club by accumulating nine.
This deserves explanation. Although he hasn't finished in Beijing (he has five finals left), in total Phelps already has nine Olympic gold medals (six in Athens) and is thus the most decorated Olympian alongside Mark Spitz, Carl Lewis, gymnast Larissa Latynina and runner Paavo Nurmi.
After his race, he revealed, his coach Bob Bowman told him: 'You're tied (with the greats).'
Replied Phelps: 'That's pretty cool.'
Actually, what's cool is this.
Phelps is going to pass Lewis and gang this week in total gold medals. No question. Which means only this: Don't switch off your television because you are watching arguably the greatest athlete in 112 years of the Olympics.
Across the planet, dominant teams and players astonish us, but eventually we're not unreasonably upset if they lose.
There's no competition, we say; this domination is too boring, we insist. We've heard this with Manchester United, Michael Schumacher, the Australian cricket team.
But no one says this of Phelps' chase of eight golds, no one wants him to lose. Partly because this feat is possible only every four years. Partly because his feat is so absurd we cannot believe someone is actually trying it.
But mostly we don't want him to lose because unless you're under 10 years old, you may not see such genius at the Games again. Said backstroker Aaron Piersol: 'Only once in a century will you see something like this.
'Especially because of the way the competition is building up. He's not just winning, he's destroying everything.'
In the first 50m of the 200 freestyle yesterday, Phelps was clearly in front, by the 100m mark he was 1.25 seconds ahead, by the 150 mark a world record was inevitable, by the time he finished, he could have almost showered before the next guy came home.
One day, maybe even at this Olympics, he will be beaten, but for now his opponents feel as privileged as us to watch him.
Park Tae Hwan, second in the 200m, said: 'People ask me how it feels to compete with Michael Phelps. It's my honour.'
Jean Basson, fourth in the 200m, said: 'He's doing some unbelievable things. I've never seen an athlete like him before. It's an honour swimming with that guy.'
The jigsaw on Phelps' genius will never be completed but every day another tiny piece is added and we understand him a little better.
After every turn, where he stays underwater for 15 metres kicking like a dolphin, Phelps emerges even further ahead, and it is a triumph of technique and muscle.
As Basson revealed: 'It may be big ankles or big feet, but his underwater kick is very powerful.' As Phelps confirmed later: 'My biggest improvement is in my underwaters.'
But it is over-water that Phelps' real challenge lies. An insane schedule means his mind needs rest, his body respite.
So he is massaged, takes ice baths, eats pasta and pizza and sleeps. Only to arise at 4.30am. Today he has two finals, yesterday he had the evening off for once. His plan?
More sleep. More forgetting.
Every race he wins, he says, he forgets, he has to act like it never happened. Even that relay on Monday.
'It was so emotional after the relay. My friends texted, saying 'We can't sleep, how are you napping?' I said, 'I'm not napping if you're texting me.'
'But I had to force myself to put it out of my head. I have so much to do that I have to be 100 per cent focused (on the next race).'
Maybe Phelps is just a machine programmed to perform. Maybe he will enjoy what he has done later. If he needs any help, he just has to ask us. He may have forgotten his races. We never will.
