Michael Phelps talks Beijing Games gold with '60 Minutes'
Michael Phelps almost ran out of gas on his way to winning the seventh gold medal at the Beijing Games that tied him with Mark Spitz. "I remember saying 'I got nothing left,'" Phelps says during a "60 Minutes" interview that will air at 7 p.m. (PST) on Sunday on CBS.
The segment that features interviews by CNN's Anderson Cooper includes this comment from Phelps' coach, Bob Bowman: “If you look at the pictures right after the race and even when I was standing there and he was in the water, I thought, ‘Wow, he is really tired right now.’”
Phelps retells how a mistake by runner-up Milorad Cavic of Serbia in the 100-meter butterfly allowed him to tie Spitz. "He’s picking up his head, so it’s acting like a speed bump,” Phelps tells Cooper while pointing to a photograph of the finish. “So he’s coming up and then trying to lift his head before he touches the wall ... [my head] is in a straight streamline. So that’s the difference in the race.
“If his head is down, he wins ... hands down, wins the race.”
One day after tying Spitz, Phelps made history when he and his U.S. teammates won gold in the 400-meter medley relay to give him a record eighth gold medal.
Phelps tells "60 Minutes" that he's not in training, but expects to return to the pool in January to prepare for the 2012 London Olympics.
-- Greg Johnson
Photo: U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps, left, finishes just ahead of Serbia's Milorad Cavic in the men's 100-meter butterfly final at the Beijing Games. Credit: Patrick B. Kraemer / European Pressphoto Agency
