Want to see what 1/100th of a second looks like?
 

Thanks and Congratz, Micheal Phelps...

(Serbia's swim coach and team, hope you are enjoying the shoe polish around the mouth..)

Shoe polish?

I do believe he's referring to the foot-in-mouth of the Serbian coach.

this is why i dont like seeing favourites win.

The Serbian was the favorite to win..

I have not been following the Olympic coverage on television but it is hard to go without hearing of Phelps. Pretty incredible what he has done.

you cant be serious. did anyone in the USA actally think that phelpsie was going to lose?

On behalf of the City and surrounding vicinity of Baltimore, I would like to offer to you a nice hearty *thbppp* :p

I am loving every minute of this.

I just hope this doesn't mar his achievement with controversy in the days/months/years to come.

If the Serb Coach had seen these SI photos before filing his protest he would had realized there was no basis for the whining.
Cavic in full glide.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ra/Phelps1.jpg
Cavic begins to lift his head.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ra/Phelps2.jpg
Cavic lifts his head completly and appears to exhale (creating more drag).
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ra/Phelps3.jpg
Phelps touches out first.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ra/Phelps4.jpg
It appears Cavic committed a swimmers greatest sin, "not trustung the wall would be there" and this is likely what lost him the race. Photos: Heinz Kluetmeier/SI

Holy great photography...how many cameras do they have to have sucking in how much information per second to get these shots?

Looking at those shots, it's amazing it's as close as it was. Phelps never loses form head to toe-Cavic looks like he's just playing around; his feet are floppy, knees bent then loosely inward....
A recent NY Daily News explained why Phelps has been unbeatable. Seems the man is built really weird, possibly because he's been at this since he was about 7. He's 6'4", but has an inseam of only 32"(less leg weight=less drag apparently); his feet are size 14, acting like flippers; his reach is 6'7", 3 inches longer than his height. They also credit the full body suit he's wearing, which greatly reduces drag compared to the half suit of others like Cavic.

Those images are amazing, every microsecond counts in sport these days and has to be recorded somehow!

Actually, Phelps wore a half-suit in this race and Cavic wore the full-suit. I'm not sure why he does this for the butterfly races... he uses the full-suit in the freestyle events, but he also used the half-suit for the 200m butterfly.

I agree and think the photos speak for themselves. Cavic held up short, just a tiny bit, while Phelps pushed all the way to the wall. In a sport measured in thousandths of a second, a miniscule margin of victory is still victory. So, I don't think there will be much traction for the objectors. But yet, leave it to the conspiracy theorists...

Through The Looking Glass: The Michael Phelps Gold Medal Conspiracy
Michael Phelps - The Greatest Amphibian of All Time* - or just another corporate-owned Frankenstein?

Um..wait...I thought Cavic was on the left based on the captions?

No, in the pictures that ranton posted, Cavic is on the right in the white swimcap. Phelps wears a black swimcap.