Lewis: Long jump king

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Michael Phelps is gunning for Olympic history as he chases eight gold medals in Beijing, but the American has already entered the record books with his 200m freestyle victory on Tuesday.

Phelps' third gold in three events inside Beijing's futuristic Water Cube means that the 'Baltimore Bullet' now has nine Olympic golds to his name - becoming only the fifth person in history to reach that tally.

With five more events to come Phelps could move out on his own as the most successful Olympian ever with 14 golds his target, which would also eclipse Mark Spitz's seven gold medals in Munich 1972.

"To be tied for the most Olympic golds of all time with those names in Olympic history is an amazing accomplishment," said Phelps.

"I didn't even know until Bob (coach Bob Bowman) reminded me of it right after the 200 free. He said 'You've tied it.' It's pretty cool. It's certainly an honour.

"I've been able to spend some time with Carl Lewis and exchange a few words with Spitz here and there."

As Phelps says, Carl Lewis joins Spitz as members of the number nine club, but you have to look a bit further back into Olympic history to discover the other two greats.

Paavo Nurmi (Finland)

The Flying Finn has a remarkable record given that his chosen field was distance running, certainly not the type of events that you can have multiple goes at again and again.

Nurmi was a supremely versatile athlete, who took part in events ranging from the 1,500m up to the 10,000m, and he was amazingly successful from 1920 until 1928.

Nurmi could have been out in front on his own in terms of gold medals won had his career not been cut short when he was charged with being a professional.

That is certainly not an obstacle in today's Games with top stars from the world of tennis, basketball and football taking part, but back then the amateur ethos was still the framework that the Olympics worked on.

Larysa Latynina (Soviet Union)

Ukrainian gymnast Latynina was sensational not only for her skill but for her versatility, as she landed the all-round gold twice and led the powerful Soviets to team gold three times.

Latynina holds several Olympic records along with her nine golds. She won six medals in each of her three Olympics in 1956, 1960 and 1964, making her the only athlete in any sport to have netted 18 medals.

She has also won the most individual medals of any athlete at 14 and she is one of only three women to have won the same Summer Olympics event three times as she dominated the floor exercise.

She went on to coach the Soviet gymnasts from 1967 to 1977.

Mark Spitz (United States)

Four years before his now legendary feat, Mark Spitz predicted he would win six gold medals at the 1968 Olympics, but came home with just two in his pocket.

The American more than made up for that in Munich four years later as he dominated in the swimming pool with his seven golds.

Spitz record still stands today, although it is in grave danger from flying Michael Phelps who could top that achievement in Beijing.

Spitz was a class above everyone else in Munich, not only becoming the only athlete to win seven gold medals at a single Games, but also setting new world records in every single victory.

His performances, and world record times, came despite him sporting a moustache - very much against the hairless conventions of swimming.

Carl Lewis (United States)

King Carl was a giant in track and field - he was the master of the long jump winning that gold medal four times in a row from 1984 until 1996.

Lewis is the last man to achieve the 100m and 200m sprint double - which he completed in front of his home fans in America in Los Angeles in 1984, where he bagged four golds with the long jump and the 4x100m relay.

In Seoul in 1988 Lewis won just the long jump title, but was subsequently handed the gold in the 100m when Canada's Ben Johnson was disqualified for using drugs.

Lewis then added another 4x100 relay gold to his tally along with the long jump in Barcelona, while he achieved his ninth and record-tying gold medal in the long jump back home in America in Atlanta 96.

Although he has spoken out against the sports doping culture, it emerged in 2003 that he had failed three tests in 1988 after taking a banned stimulant in a herbal medicine. He escaped punishment.