Phelps clears air on who's who

ROME – Michael Phelps beat Milorad Cavic again. No doubt about it.

With a defiant performance in a supposedly inferior suit, Phelps stayed close over the outward lap and rallied on the return to become the first swimmer to break 50 seconds in the 100-meter butterfly, beating the Serbian with a time of 49.82.

Cavic also broke 50 seconds, but 49.95 only got him a silver - and plenty of words to eat. He wasn’t nearly as close as last year’s Beijing Olympics, when Phelps famously won by one-hundredth of a second and Cavic always maintained that he actually touched first.

“That satisfied me a little bit,” Phelps quipped with that crooked grin of his. “I set it up perfectly.”

When Phelps saw his time at the Foro Italico, he hopped up on the lane rope separating him and Cavic, threw up his arms and let out a scream toward his mom and sister in the stands.

Showing as much emotion as he ever has, Phelps also slapped the water and tugged at his Speedo LZR Racer swimsuit – no doubt in reference to Cavic offering to get Phelps one of those supposedly faster polyurethane suits so he wouldn’t have any excuses.

No need, Milorad.

Phelps did just fine with his own attire.

“It doesn’t matter what suit you wear,” Phelps said. “It matters how you train.”

The two rivals finally shook hands, but that was about it.

Nothing more needed to be said.

“He congratulated me and kind of smiled a bit, but I have a feeling that our battle is going to go back and forth for a while,” Phelps said.

Cavic did say one thing to Phelps: “You’re the man.”

“He just looked at me and smiled,” Cavic said. “He knows it.”

In one of the most memorable events of the Beijing Olympics, Phelps pulled out an improbable victory on his final half-stroke to beat Cavic by the narrowest possible margin. Without that win, Phelps would not have broken Mark Spitz’s record with eight gold medals in a single games.

Cavic has stewed over the loss ever since, believing he touched first but didn’t put as much pressure on the touchpad as Phelps, who ad-libbed an extra lunge and crashed into the wall much harder. Even though all electronic and photographic evidence shows Phelps won, Cavic repeated his claims when he got to Rome.

He also tried to get into Phelps’ head, saying it was the American’s own fault for sticking with a Speedo suit that isn’t as fast as polyurethane models such as the Arena X-Glide, which Cavic wears.

The Serbian offered to get Phelps an X-Glide “within the hour,” or buy him another of the rubberized suits out of his own pocket. Cavic said he would really prefer to race Phelps wearing nothing but briefs, so everyone would know who the best man is without any help from the suits.

Phelps said he would do his talking in the pool.

“He loves the big races, loves the energy,” said his coach, Bob Bowman. “He sort of thrives on that, while some other swimmers don’t.”

Phelps set his second world record of the fastest meet in history and got back the mark Cavic snatched away a night earlier with a time of 51.01 in the semifinals.

Phelps also won his fourth gold medal of the championships, to go along with that silver he grudgingly accepted after losing to Germany’s Paul Biedermann in the 200 free. Phelps has one event left – the 400 medley relay Sunday night, assuming the US doesn’t mess up in the morning prelims. The Americans will be a heavy favorite in that one, as always.

Three other world records were set Saturday, bringing the total to 39 with one day left at the final meet for high-tech bodysuits.

Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe took down her own mark in the 200 backstroke, winning in 2 minutes, 4.81 seconds. Russia’s Anastasia Zueva also went under Coventry’s old mark of 2:05.24, but 2:04.94 was only good enough for the silver. American Elizabeth Beisel claimed bronze. (AP)