Michael Phelps’ goal for the next 10 days is very simple.

“I’m looking,” he said, “to do something different that the sport has never seen.”

That “something” is to break Mark Spitz’s record of seven gold medals the swimmer won at the 1972 Munich Games. Phelps came up short of the goal in Athens in 2004, when he won four golds and two bronzes. But with the experience of two Olympics under his swim cap, Phelps, at 23-years-old, isn’t just a favorite to win gold — he’s a favorite to rewrite the history books.

But to do so, he must place first in all his events — five individual and three relays.

This story continues below
Advertisement

“If they gave black belts for handling pressure, he’s about a sixth-degree black belt,” U.S. men’s swimming coach Eddie Reese said. “I’ve been around him when people come up and he’s at the genius level in dealing with people. He’s been in pressure situations so much, he’s been desensitized to a point.”

The pressure begins Saturday with his preliminary heat in the 400-meter individual medley. From then until Aug. 17, Phelps will race, barring catastrophic elimination in heats or injury, 17 times in nine days.

“They’re all going to be hard, but the one that will be hardest will be the first one, the 400 IM,” Phelps, the world-record holder in the 400-meter individual medley, said. “It’s the one I’m most excited to swim.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.