He brought the pool water to a boil in his opening race, finishing miles ahead of his competition in the 400-meter individual medley. The next day, he showed just how much emotion and energy he had stored up for these Games, exploding in celebration after the 400 freestyle relay win. He picked up gold medals Nos. 4 and 5 by tackling two finals within 90 minutes of each other. In fact, in the fourth final, the 200 fly, he glided to victory even though his goggles had filled with water and he couldn't see the wall at race's end.
His seventh gold was perhaps the most exciting, as Phelps trailed for almost all of the 100 butterfly. He appeared to hit the wall second, out-touched by Milorad Cavic. But as Cavic glided beneath the water, Phelps instinctively took an extra half stroke atop it, winning gold by 0.01 of a second.
"Honestly, even after he won the seventh gold medal there was just something in my head," said his coach, Bob Bowman. "I kept telling myself, you know, this isn't going to happen. We've had too good of luck."
Luck was never a factor. Phelps made that clear in his final race. Swimming the third leg in the 400 medley relay, Phelps dived into the pool with the United States trailing in third place. By time he pulled himself out, his team was in first. He had given the team a lead it would hold until the end.
The superlatives came from all angles, no compliment embellished and no assessment unfounded. But it was Phelps himself who found the perfect words. He understood better than anyone else how this all came to be. "If you dream as big as you can dream," he said, "anything is possible." And there it is. As perfect as it is succinct. The TV cameras had no clue, but that was the secret. To achieve, we must dream.
It's what connects great thinkers, believers and doers from all walks of life. It's how the Colts won in 1958, how a kid from Aberdeen grew up to play 2,632 baseball games in a row. How boys and girls of all ages, from all walks of life and from all corners of the planet overcome their surroundings to make themselves better.
And in turn, they make us all better. Ability and opportunity might vary, but we can all close our eyes and dream. The key is opening them and living out that dream.
Phelps will undoubtedly create a new list and new goals, but his accomplishments at the Beijing Games will endure. He didn't simply win eight gold medals; he showed that he truly has the Midas touch. And in the summer of 2008, not a soul could avoid it. He touched us all.
What's your dream? Is it a secret between you and the pillow or something you carry with you day-to-day, nurturing with all the time and energy you can muster?
Eight gold medals? That was never really the point.
"I think it really shows that no matter what you set your imagination to, anything can happen," Phelps said.
He made his dream come true, the instructions deceptively simple: Just add water.
But he reminds all of us that we can do it, too. This makes him not a great swimmer and not an Olympic god but something much bigger. Baltimore's son is the world's best envoy. Through him, we all dream and we're all made of gold.
