Michael Phelps Rewrites History As He Wins His Eighth Gold Medal In Beijing!

It's August 16th 2008, and every American is either still screaming or sitting in complete amazement waiting for it to sink in.

It was a packed water cube at the Beijing Olympics. Kobe Bryant and LeBron James were there to watch their fellow Olympian rewrite the history books.

The stage was set. Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hansen, Michael Phelps, and Jason Lezak ready to give it one last run in the 4x100m Medley Relay.

Aaron Peirsol started the relay with the backstroke. He was first into the wall with a time of 53.16.

Brendan Hansen was next swimming the breaststoke. He touched the wall second behing Japan's Kosuke Kitajima with a time of 59.27.

Then Michael Phelps was up swimming the butterfly. He had an explosive turn, and gave Jason Lezak a lead to work with going into the wall first with a time of 50.15.

Jason Lezak would again close the relay for the Americans swimming the free. Michael's mother, Debbie, was in the stands screaming, "Go Jason Go!" And Jason did go. Jason held off Austrailian Eamon Sullivan for the gold with a time of 46.76.

The American team of Peirsol, Hansen, Phelps, and Lezak swam in a world record time of 3:29.34.

The Austrailians, consisting of Hayden Stoeckel, Brenton Rickard, Andrew Lauterstein, and Eamon Sullivan claimed the silver with a time of 3:30.04.

The Japanese team of Junichi Miyashita, Kosuke Kitajima, Takuro Fujii, and Hisayoshi Sato won the bronze in a time of 3:31.18.

That makes it official. Michael Phelps is the greatest swimmer of all time, passing Mark Spitz.

When asked what he would remember most about these Olympics games he responded with, "Everything."

Back in Phelps' home town of Baltimore, Maryland the Ravens had a pre-season football game. After the finish, the 70,000+ fans stayed to watch Phelps win on the big screens.

Photos by Getty Images/Yahoo! Sports