Phelps' vision is one that is shared by all

BEIJING -- So you've always wanted to swim like Michael Phelps?

Well, now you have.

Phelps became the most prolific gold medalist in Olympic history this morning by winning a race with water filling his goggles.

The previous night, in a tiny darkened hotel pool wearing faded board shorts, I nearly splashed to the bottom with water filling my goggles.

When Phelps finished his laps -- a world record in the 200-meter butterfly -- he ripped off the goggles, threw them on the pool deck, and spent the next few minutes annoyingly squinting water out of his eyes.

Same here.

This is silly. This is beyond silly.

"This is miraculous," said Poland's Pawel Korzeniowski.

Michael Phelps cannot only win gold medals streaking through the fastest pool in the world, he can win them as if splashing around the YMCA.

He cannot only win them with biomemetic fabric on his body, he can win them with chlorine in his eyes.

He cannot only win them brutishly, he can win them blind.

And he can win them twice in one day, which is what happened today, which dredges up an entirely different set of metaphors.

At 10:21 a.m., he won a gold medal in the 200-meter butterfly.

At 11:19 a.m., he won another gold medal as part of the 800 freestyle relay.

That's somebody pitching a no-hitter in Game 6 of the World Series, then hitting the game-winning grand slam of Game 7.

If the games were a doubleheader.

That's somebody leading all scorers in games to win NBA and Olympic championships.

In the same afternoon.

He won the most coveted individual sports award in the world twice in less time that it would take most of us to even put on his bathing suit.

"Massively, massively impressive," said Andrew Hunter of Britain.

It's as large as 11 Olympic gold medals in his career, two more than anyone in any sort of Olympics, winter, spring, summer or fall.

But the only number that matters, it seems, is eight.

With five gold medals already around his neck here, can he survive the whiplash required to win three more, breaking legend Mark Spitz's single-Olympic record?

Today proved it. Today clinched it.

The deal is done. Everyone around here with wet hair agrees.

"I think he wins eight medals, yes," said Korzeniowski, who finished sixth in the 200 butterfly. "Everyone says, 'How does he do this?' But still, he does this."