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BEIJING - MICHAEL Phelps became the greatest Olympian in history on Wednesday, winning the 200m butterfly gold in a world record time of 1min 52.03sec to claim the 10th gold medal of his Games career.
Phelps, who improved on the record of 1:52.09 he set in winning the world title in Melbourne last year, moved past Olympic icons Paavo Nurmi, Carl Lewis, Mark Spitz and Larysa Latynina, who all won nine golds in their careers.
He had joined that group on Tuesday, and had a chance later on Wednesday to add to his gold tally in the men's 4x200m freestyle relay final.
Phelps, who won six gold medals in Athens four years ago, is vying for another piece of Olympic history.
If he can win all eight of his events at the Water Cube, he will surpass the record of seven gold medals at one Games set by US swimmer Spitz at Munich in 1972.
Hungary's Laszlo Cseh was second in the 200m fly in 1:52.70, and Japan's Takeshi Matsuda took the bronze in 1:52.97.
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