One gold down, seven more to go for Phelps

Michael Phelps starts his race to history by winning the 400 metre individual medley for the first of his possible eight gold medals.

Michael Phelps celebrates with his gold medal after winning the 400m individual medley final.

BEIJING // Michael Phelps jumped off the starting blocks and started his race to history today, winning the 400 metre individual medley for the first of his possible eight gold medals. The American swimmer won the race in style, setting a world record of four minutes, 3.84 seconds. "That was a pretty emotional race," Phelps said. "I knew it was going to be a tough race all the way through." This race had been considered to be Phelps' toughest test, but the American swimmer looked impressive all the way. Laszlo Cseh of Hungary took the silver in 4:06.16, while Ryan Lochte of the USA faded to third in 4:08.09 - more than four seconds behind. The only glitch came during the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner," which cut off a few seconds before the end. There were 14 gold medals to be won today, but most eyes were on the four main events in the pool - at least until the Chinese superstar Yao Ming plays later in the day against the United States in the men's basketball. Stephanie Rice of Australia won the women's 400m individual medley in a world record time of 4:29.45. Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe was second in 4:29.89, and Katie Hoff of the United States took bronze in 4:31.71. "I sort of turned around and thought I saw 4:31 and I was thinking, 'That hurt a lot for a 4:31,'" Rice said. "But when I walked over and saw the 4:29, I thought, 'That's amazing.'" Park Tae-hwan of South Korea won the men's 400m freestyle, snapping Australia's dominance of the event at the Olympics. Park, the current world champion, finished in 3:41.86. Zhang Lin of China earned his country's first swimming medal of the games, claiming silver in 3:42.78, and Larsen Jensen of the USA took the bronze in 3:42.78. In the women's 4x100m relay, the Netherlands won gold in 3:33.76, edging the USA and Australia.

*AP