The man, the machine

11 gold medals, with likely more to come. 6 world records, again more to be broken.

His fourth and fifth medals of these games were won less than an hour apart; he basically went from the medal ceremony for the 200 fly to the starting blocks for the 4 x 200 freestyle relay, in which the Americans lowered the world record by 4.68 seconds. In the leadoff leg, Phelps accounted for 2.64 seconds of that.

Phelps has three races between himself and another dimension of immortality: The first is the 200-metre individual medley, where fellow American Ryan Lochte is dangerous; the second is he 100-metre butterfly, where world record holder Ian Crocker has been waiting all week, rested and ready, for Phelps to swim all the way to him.

Phelps's final race, the 4x100-metre medley relay, should be as one-sided as the 4x200 freestyle relay was. Still, as Phelps put it, "It's not over yet. I'm not unbeatable. No one's unbeatable."

Congratulations, Humble Pie.