Michael Phelps wins 7th gold medal — .01 seconds

Beijing — Michael Phelps remained on track to break an Olympic swim record — by a fingertip.

In his toughest individual event of the Games, Phelps barely touched the wall ahead of Serbia’s Milord Cavic to win the 100-meter butterfly and his record-tying seventh Olympic gold medal. Phelps’ official time (50.58) was a hundredth of a second ahead of Cavic.

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Johnny Crawford / jcrawford@ajc.com

American swimmer Michael Phelps won the 100-meter butterfly Saturday for his seventh gold medal of the 2008 Olympics.

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MICHAEL KAPPELER / Getty Images

Michael Phelps (right) beats Serbia’s Milorad Cavic by 0.01 seconds to win the gold in the 100-meter butterfly.

Serbian coaches asked for a review of the race and filed a formal, written protest. Swim officials broke down the video frame-by-frame to one ten-thousandths of a second and determined Phelps touched first.

In a news conference after the race, Ben Ekumbo, an official with FINA, the world governing body for swimming, explained the ruling that the result stands.

“It was very clear that the Serbian swimmer touched second after Michael Phelps. It is evident from the video that it was an issue of stroking — one was stroking and the other was gliding.”

Ekumbo said the Serbs “were satisifed” with the ruling.

Phelps said he had to take an extra half-stroke to reach the wall and admitted after that, “I thought I lost the race. But I guess that half-stroke — I mean, I’m really sort of at a loss for words.”

After seeing his name listed first on the scoreboard, Phelps yelled and did a few fist pumps, the most emotion he has shown after a win. He said he felt “relief, excitement — everything. … I had to take my goggles off first to make sure the 1 was next to my name. That’s when I sort of let out my roar.”

Cavic, actually a California native, led most of the race but took the loss gracefully.

“One one-hundreth of a second is the most difficult loss you can have, especially at the Olympics,” he said. “I did see the replays. But if you’re asking if I’m disappointed, it’s a complete miracle to me that I’m here. I retired a year and a half ago and came back to swimming thinking I was good enough to compete at this level. So I’m enjoying this.

“I wish I was the gold medalist. But I’ll take the silver medal and I’m very comfortable with this.”

The 100 butterfly was the first event in which Phelps did not break a world record. However, his time was an Olympic record.

Also, the seventh gold medal tied Mark Spitz’s record for most gold medals in one Olympics. Phelps will attempt to break Spitz’s mark today in Beijing in the 4x100 medley relay.

Torres, Joyce advance

41-year-old Dara Torres and former Georgia star Kara Lynn Joyce advance to the finals of the women’s 50 freestyle. Torres posted the fastest time in the semis at 24.27. Joyce is sixth in the field of eight at 24.63.