Michael Phelps celebrates his victory in Saturday's 100 butterfly. Phelps outraced Serbia's Milorad Cavic and broke the world record, finishing in 49.82 seconds. (Clive Rose, Getty Images)
ROME, Aug. 1 – As if this whole week hadn’t been enough of a headache for Michael Phelps entering Saturday’s 100-meter butterfly final at the world swimming championships, Phelps broke his goggles on another swimmer’s head during a head-to-head collision just more than an hour before the race.
With his brain already resounding from a week of taunts and challenges from his main rival, Serbia’s Milorad Cavic, Phelps found himself with busted goggles across his forehead, blurred vision in his left eye, a sore left shoulder and a seriously panicked coach, who screamed “no!” as he saw the collision unfold. And then Bob Bowman summoned a doctor.
As it turned out, the only man in need of medical attention Saturday might have been Cavic, who once again got chased down from behind in a thriller of a final by Phelps, who won in 49.82 seconds, going 0.19 under the world record Cavic had set Friday night. With the crowd at the Foro Italico standing, stomping and thundering, Cavic was second in 49.95, also sliding under the world record of 50.01.
Phelps, fourth at the turn, charged past Cavic over the race’s final meters.
“You can tell by my celebration that satisfied me a little bit,” Phelps said. “I set it up perfectly. That was exactly what I wanted to do.”
When Phelps saw he had won, he ripped off his swimcap, threw up his arms with defiance and tugged on the front of his old-model Speedo LZR swimsuit — which he later admitted was a response to Cavic’s offer Friday to buy Phelps a more technically advanced suit if he couldn’t get one for free.
“There are always things that fire me up and motivate me,” Phelps said. “Sometimes it’s a comment. Sometimes it’s what people do. That’s just how I tick.”
Earlier in the week, Cavic said he wouldn’t feel bad about beating Phelps in a faster speedsuit because, he claimed, a timing error had robbed him of a victory at the Olympic 100 fly final last year. In that race, Phelps topped Cavic by .01 of a second, but Cavic claimed he actually touched the wall first.
“The media has a way of taking one tiny little thing and making it into something it’s really not, especially the American media,” said Cavic, who wore the popular Arena X-Glide suit. “I’ve always said good things about Michael. I just looked at the scenario of the suits as it was, and made a few suggestions. ….. I don’t see how I said anything wrong.”
Phelps declined to comment on Cavics’s comments throughout the week, saying he would let his swimming do the talking, and it did. His world record was one of four set Saturday, bringing the meet total to 39.
Cavic, a notoriously fast starter, hit the turn first in 22.69 seconds, but Phelps, a notoriously slow starter, did not trail as much as usual. He reached the first 50 in 23.36, which he said was the fastest split he had ever posted. He said he knew he would catch Cavic at that point.
And Cavic seemed to know it, too.
“I knew if I was going to win this race, I needed to have a much bigger lead in front of Michael,” Cavic said. “It was too close for comfort. Michael Phelps is Michael Phelps. He does what he does, and he did.”
Spain’s Rafael Muñoz finished third in 50.41 seconds and Venezuela’s Albert Subirats was fourth in 50.79.
When the eight finalists took the blocks Saturday night, a thick silence fell over the venue. Bowman, rattled over the head-smashing incident before the race — not to mention other trying incidents in a long week for Phelps — found himself hesitant to walk out. Phelps, who has won four gold medals and one silver here, has, by his standards, still had a rough week.
He had lost one American record (in the 100 freestyle to David Walters) and three world records: the 200 freestyle to Germany’s Paul Biedermann, who crushed Phelps in the 200 free final; the 200 individual medley to American Ryan Lochte (Phelps didn’t swim the race this year); and, on Saturday, his world record in the 100 butterfly semifinals to Cavic as Phelps stood poolside.
With all of that weighing on him, Bowman found himself lingering by the televisions underneath the stands longer than usual.
“This was, ‘Honestly, I just don’t know if I want to see this or not,’.” Bowman said.
When Phelps had banged full-speed into the head of Australian swimmer Cate Campbell, Bowman had run to get Phelps new goggles, and Phelps continued to warm up — though Bowman insisted that he move to an empty lane.
“It kind of shocked me,” Phelps said. “It took the wind out of me a little bit.”
Phelps emerged from the pool and informed Bowman he was having vision problems.
“He said, ‘I’m seeing blurry out of my left eye,’.” Bowman said. “I said, ‘Maybe that will make you hit the wall perfectly because you never do with regular vision.’ ”
Campbell also was briefly disoriented, Australian media director Ian Hanson said.
“No hard feelings, but the Australian version is that it was Michael’s fault,” Hanson said.
It might have been the only mistake Phelps made Saturday night.
“I did my best,” Cavic said. “He did something huge.”
Tags: Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte
Take that Cavic – with all your loud mouth and obnoxiousness – Michael in a LZR anyday – and if it had been in briefs – Cavic wouldn’t have been ANYWHERE near!!!!!
Amazing Amy to get the results up so fast – Thank you, thank you!
Cavic got his ass kicked
He’s breaking world records after bong hits
Does anyone know whether the championships are going to be shown in HDTV anywhere? Or for that matter in standard def??
Phelps should have asked him if he won this one too.
I knew God will be with Phelps on that race.
Actually no, that was all Phelps, but I watched. Good race.
TAKE A LOOK AT THE INTERVIEWS!!! Cavic didn’t say anything about Beijing or been robbed, it has been all media created.
The same thing happened at the Olympics: trash talk does not work! It only makes your opponent more determined to beat you. Doesn’t anyone learn?
Hey Cavic, I don’t think Micahel needs your free suit.
Just as Viking says : trash talk does not work. It gets results opposite from what it was intended for.
When my son was in judo and in high school wrestling his biggest wins came against those who trash talked to him.
Cavic should shut up and train harder, get a better coach.
Cavic was AWESOME! This race wouldn’t have been the same without him. He wore an EXCELLENT Black Hat!!! That rivalry was WAY BETTER for their performance than any Tech Suit!!!! Congratulations to the both of them! I had no idea Phelps did it all with an eye concussion!
Michael was NOT a sore L0ser about the 200 Free loss to Beiderman on Tuesday….in a videotaped interview, the first question they asked him was “did you lose to the swimmer, or to the swimsuit”. Phelps made it very clear as he said “I lost to the swimmer.”
ALSO, Cavic is NOT a sore L0ser, either! He said “If I’m gonna lose, I’d rather lose to Phelps”. These guys are just full of emotion because they train SO hard all year long for events that are over in 50 seconds. You and I can’t begin to relate, much less judge.
Cavic, another Serbian hot bag like Djokovic. Serbians, I run into, always seem to have overinflated egos.
To scooternva: I assume you are in the DC area. They were on HDTV on Saturday on NBC 4. They will also be on HDTV on Sunday at 12 noon, again on NBC 4. They have been on everyday since last Sunday at noon – either on NBC 4, Universal Sports and streaming live on universalsports.com
Phelps is the sore loser, not Cavic. Anyone involved in swimming at a high level internally understands how egomanical Phelps can be, i.e. his comments after the 200 Free. Same with Bob Bowman, they are by far sorer losers than Cavic, from what they’ve said.
Michael is good, but Cavic is much better. He is gonna prove it….Ga ahead boys…
Now he can blaze one up again. Woohoo!
UNREAL!!! The number of ignorant remarks by the ugly Americans.
As my seven-year-old grandson is fond of saying, that was SOME race! Swimming is all about doing it in the water. Good job, Michael. A perfect and exciting swim. As to the TV coverage, a good question is, why The Washington Post doesn’t see it fit to list swimming coverage in its sports pages with the weekend TV coverage of other sports? Knowing that finals were at 12 noon our time, on a hunch, I tuned into NBC and there it was, and very good coverage it was. One would have hoped that oversight would have been noticed after the US Championship and team selection meet, which also was not listed under weekend sports in The Post. Swimming is not such a bad sport. We hope the sports editors would catch on. But thanks for this great website. We really appreciate it.
Phelps’s victory over Cavic completely demolishes Phelps’s and Bowman’s complaints that Biedermann’s victory in the 200 free was because of Biedermann’s suit.
I am glad Phelps rebounded after this SILVER medal finish earlier this week, but I was very disappointed with his behavior (and his coach, too) after that race. Having to watch and listen to him behave so poorly after finishing second was sad. He is not perfect — no one is — and he simply cannot win every race in which he swims. His Olympics success was wonderful to watch.
He and other high level competitors should take a cue from Michelle Kwan who finished second and OMG third in Ladies Figure Skating at two Olympics when she was supposed to win. She accepted her SILVER and BRONZE medals with grace, dignity and yes, tears, but we all shed a few with her because she was respectful of the competitors who bested her on those days at those competitions.
This rivalry is just what swimming needs…it attracts attention and an audience to watch. Cavic is a great swimmer and challenges Phelps who then goes out and breaks another world record. And remember, Cavic broke it also. The gold standard banner is Phelps and of course, everyone is trying to challenge. Good for swimming.
Nothing amps me more than Michael Phelps “walking the walk” like this. Think of the singlemindedness and focus the next time you can’t make that next rep, pedal up that hill or run back to guard your end of the court. This kid is the gold standard of competitive spirit. As for Cavic, he’ll be Michael’s bitch from now on, especially when the sport establishes ONE suit acceptable for ALL swimmers. Go Michael Go! JJV
Oops. The Sunday sports pages’ TV and Radio listings, page D2, have Swimming right there with Major League Baseball, Soccer, Golf, Tennis and Auto Racing. Way to go, Post!
Don’t poke the tiger baby….!
“Peter C says:
August 1, 2009 at 6:55 pm
Phelps is the sore loser, not Cavic. Anyone involved in swimming at a high level internally understands how egomanical Phelps can be”
From somone who is…..I can assure you that is complete BS.
“RoJaKa says:
August 2, 2009 at 4:05 am
Phelps’s victory over Cavic completely demolishes Phelps’s and Bowman’s complaints that Biedermann’s victory in the 200 free was because of Biedermann’s suit.”
That is not necessarily true. Other possible explanations for the difference between the two races could be explained by the following: 1) Phelps’ godly dominance in butterfly, apparent in the 200 since he was 14 and enhanced in the 100 this past season by focusing his training on short distance races, is simply so fast that he was able to beat the rest of the world while he was wearing a slower suit 2) Phelps’ freestyle as a whole has suffered since Beijing because of his failed attempt to focus on sprints and straight arm free (phelps was well off his beijing freestyle times in every freestyle swim of the meet) 3) the suits help some strokes more than others 4) the suits help some distances more than others 5) the suit helps cavic’s 100 fly less than it helps biedermann’s 200 free.
lil John has got it right on all counts….. in freestyle you are basically submerged during the entire swim as opposed to Fly where drag isn’t as much of a factor other than off the start and the turn, not to mention the increased distance.
If you take a look at Biedermans post race comments, he essentially gave credit to the suit himself.
Agreed with lil jon and NVASwimmin.
Way to kick the egomaniacle Serbs’s ASS Mikey!! Thats wat all you granola crunching liberals need to realize, that we are not as bad a country as others believe we are, Milorad Cavic being exhibit A for being “others”.
WAY TO BE, PHELPSIE, WERE ROOTING FOR YA BACK HOME!
Paulie, the stuff about Cavic’s over-inflated ego is probably because he grew up in the US, inventors and home of over-inflated egos.
Once again Phelps has shown poor sportsmanship after the race, just like after the 200 free. He’s obviously just a tool to his immature coach, who is manipulating him like a puppet on a string. I hope this trend won’t catch on.
Cavic should “give it a rest”. With only 2 events on hand (1 being non olympic standard, the 50m butterfly), he will not even come close to Michael Phelps’ league who competes in almost all swimming events(all gold) with the exception of the recent 200m freestyle loss where he took a silver. Michael Phelps is definitely by far the most superior swimmer of all time. Beating Cavic in Beijing and Rome respectively should be enough indication for Cavic to stop trash talking Phelps. Perhaps, he looking for a bigger media publicity?
Cavic is definitely a sore loser. “Give It Up Cavic”.
Cavic is nothing but a one-suit wonder: he hasn’t been under 52 seconds since 2007….lol. His argument about touching the pad first in 2008 is ludicrous: as if the first one to the stopwatch wins over the one who stops it first. He’s sad little man with a big mouth. If only his swimming was as good as smack-talk.