Michael Phelps shatters record: I don't need no stinking new suit

    Phelps celebrates as silver medal winner Cavic looks on

In case Michael Phelps needed to be prodded into showing folks he hasn't lost his touch, he put the period on the end of the sentence Saturday in Rome at the swimming world championships.

Phelps' coach had complained that swimmers who were using the latest high-tech swimsuit called the X-Glide seemed to be toppling records belonging to Phelps and gosh darn it, that just wasn't fair. He went so far as to say that Phelps might just take his Speedo LZR and go home after the swimmer came in second, earlier this week, winning only a silver medal in the 200 meter freestyle,

The Arena X-Glide that Phelps isn't wearing, reportedly due to his sponsorship commitments to Speedo, happened to be on the body of a huge rival of his, one Milorad Cavic, an American competing for Serbia.

Cavic was the unfortunate competitor who lost to Phelps in Beijing by what seemed like a nano-second in that 100 meter butterfly race that had to be reviewed on instant replay. By winning that one race Phelps was able to keep alive his hope to break Mark Spitz's record for gold medals won during a single Olympics.

Against all evidence to the contrary, Cavic continues to argue that he really won that race. He's been stewing about it for twelve months. On Friday during the semi-final heats of the 100 meter butterfly he broke Phelps' record time of 50.22 by clocking in at 50.01. He took the opportunity to needle Phelps and call him on the whining by his coach about the new-fangled suit that will no longer be legal to wear come January 1, 2010. The story of that decision can be found here.

On Saturday in the finals, Phelps and his Speedo beat Cavic and his Arena X-Glide decisively as they both became the first swimmers to crash through the barrier of 50 seconds for the 100 meter butterfly. Phelps' gold medal time was 49.82 and Cavic won the silver medal with a time of 49.95.

Phelps was pretty vocal and defiant in his celebration, right in Cavic's face. He was quoted as saying : "It doesn't matter what suit you wear. It matters how you train." He might want to tell his coach to stop making him seem like a sore loser. But all is back to normal in the world of swimming as even Cavic was quoted as saying: "This is just a testament to Michael Phelps. He can do it all."

Photo credit: Associated Press/Allesandra Tarantino, taken in Rome on August 1, 2009