(BEIJING August 13) -- Where else can we start with a review of day five of Beijing 2008 than with a living legend? The name Michael Fred Phelps was etched into Olympic record books today as the man with more gold medals to his name than any other person in sporting history.

Having drawn level with the four other folks who have won nine overall Olympic gold medals yesterday, Phelps didn't just nudge ahead by winning the Men's 200m Butterfly for his landmark 10th overall Olympic gold – and fourth of Beijing 2008 (it almost goes without saying that it was in a new world record of 1:52.03), but an hour later he then swam the lead-off leg as the United States Men's 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay team of Ryan Lochte, Ricky Berens and Peter Vanderkaay, completely obliterating the world record to seize gold -- Phelps's 11th gold overall – in a breathtaking time of 6:58.56, to shave an unbelievable 4.68 seconds off the previous record.

Federica Pellegrini of Italy also set a new world record of 1:54.82 to take gold in the Women's 200m Freestyle, while the Women's 200m Individual Medley world record also fell to Stephanie Rice of Australia.

Kitajima Kosuke of Japan was an Olympic record breaker in the semifinal of the Men's 200m Breaststroke, and Frenchman Alain Bernard took back his 100m Freestyle world record that had been bettered by Eamon Sullivan of Australia earlier this week in a time of 47.20, only for Sullivan to bounce back and set another new world record of 47.05 seconds. Don't expect this record to survive tomorrow's final!

Host China had a golden day in many sports on day five -- none more spectacular than in Weightlifting, where defending champion Liu Chunhong heaved world records in the Women's 69 kilogram category by lifting 128kg in the Snatch, 158kg in the Clean and Jerk and 286kg in total weight. Liu's gold was China's sixth Weightlifting gold in the tournament. Sa Jae-hyouk of the Republic of Korea won the Men's 77 kilogram class.

Chinese divers are halfway through their Phelps-like quest of a perfect sweep of the eight Diving gold medals after world champions Qin Kai and Wang Feng won the Men's Synchronized 3m Springboard to make it a team total of four gold medals from four finals.

Dmitry Sautin and Yuriy Kunakov of Russia earned silver, while Illya Kvasha and Oleksiy Prygorov of Ukraine took bronze. The legendary Sautin, 34, is now a five-time Olympian who has won eight medals overall between 1992 and 2008.

There was host joy, too, as China's Women's gymnasts took the Team event gold medal for the first time with a total of 188.900 points. The United States won the silver medal with 186.525 points and Romania grabbed bronze with 181.525.

Hot-shot Chen Ying was another Chinese gold medalist, winning the Women's 25m Pistol with an Olympic record final score of 793.4 points.

Other countries had a golden day too. Germany clutched double Fencing gold with world champion Britta Heidemann taking the Women's Individual Epee and Benjamin Philip Kleibrink winning the Men's Individual Foil gold.

Ueno Masae of Japan took just six seconds to beat Cuba's Anaysi Hernandez with an ippon to claim her second consecutive Olympic gold in the Judo Women's -70kg class, while Irakli Tsirekidze of Georgia, gold medalist of the 2007 World Championships, won gold in his Olympic debut in the Men's -90kg class by beating Amar Benikhlef of Algeria with a shido.

It was a case of brothers in arms (well arm locks!) as Steeve Guénot of France and Georgia's Manuchar Kvirkelia won gold medals in the Men's Greco-Roman Wrestling 66 kilogram and 74 kilogram weight classes. Kvirkvelia won his country's first gold of the Beijing Olympics by defeating China's Chang Yongxiang in the Men's Greco-Roman 74 kilogram final, while Guénot became the first French Olympic Wrestling champion in 84 years by beating Kanatbek Begaliev of Kyrgyzstan in the 66kg category gold. Amazingly Guénot's older brother, Christophe, claimed a 74kg weight class bronze medal,

So to life on the open road…where Kristin Armstrong of the United States claimed the Women's Individual Time Trial gold medal after pegging back early leader Emma Pooley of Great Britain, who took silver. Karin Thurig of Switzerland took bronze ahead of 49-year-old cycling legend Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli of France who narrowly missed out on a fourth Olympic medal.

Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara powered home to take the Men's Individual Time Trial gold, fending off the challenge of silver medalist Gustav Larsson of Sweden. Levi Leipheimer of the United States won bronze.

Away from the medals, in the semifinals of the Badminton Women's Doubles tournament two Chinese pairs met, with Du Jing and Yu Yang defeating Wei Yili and Zhang Yawen 21-19, 21-12. They now face Lee Hyo-jung and Lee Kyung-won of the Republic of Korea in the final.

First-seeds Kido Markis and Setiawan Hendra of Indonesia are safely through to the semifinals of Men's Doubles and will face Lars Paaske and Jonas Rasmussen of Denmark. Hwang Ji-man and Lee Jae-jin of the Republic of Korea defeated Japanese shuttlers Tadashi Ohtsuka and Keita Masuda to set up a semifinal against World No. 3 pair Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng of China.

In Women's Singles, Indonesia's Maria Kristin Yulianti progressed into the semifinals by beating India's Saina Nehwal. She will meet World No. 7 China's Zhang Ning, who advanced to the semifinals by defeating World No. 5 Pi Hongyan of France. The other semifinal was an all-China affair between Lu Lan China and Xie Xingfang.

In Rowing, the A-finalists were decided in six of the 14 Olympic boat classes. China's Zhang Xiuyun won her semifinal of the Women's Single Sculls, with Michelle Guerette of the United States and early race leader Miroslava Knapkova of the Czech Republic also going through to the final. They are joined by second semifinal winner Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus, Rumyana Neykova of Bulgaria and Julia Michalska of Poland.

Rafael Nadal of Spain and Serbia's Novak Djokovic moved into the quarterfinals of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Tennis tournament, and in Archery, No. 10 seed Lee Chang-hwan of the Republic of Korea shot a near perfect score of 117 out of 120 to set a 12-arrow Olympic record in the Men's Individual elimination rounds.

Lee and his teammate Im Dong-hyun, along with three of the top four seeded archers, Juan Rene Serrano of Mexico, Viktor Ruban of Ukraine and Park Kyung-mo (ROK), advanced as expected to the 1/8 elimination round.

Among team sports Brazil has yet to drop a set in the Women's Volleyball tournament and is guaranteed to reach the quarterfinals after defeating Serbia 25-15, 25-13, 25-23. Serbia's chances to reach the quarterfinals remain high as this was their first loss of the tournament. Italy remained undefeated by beating Algeria.

Russia beat Belarus 71-65 in a group A match in the preliminary round of the Olympic Women's Basketball tournament. Australia beat the Republic of Korea 90-62 and Latvia recorded their first Olympic tournament win by beating Brazil, who remains without a win from three games.

Spain beat the Czech Republic 74-55 in their group B game; China beat New Zealand 80-63; and the United States easily brushed aside Mali to keep their 100 percent record intact.

Those were just some of the highlights from a thrilling day five of Beijing 2008 – the greatest sporting show on Earth.