Michael Phelps Two More Golds in Waiting Next 24 Hours
Monday night and Tuesday night, chances are that those living in the US will be watching their man, Michael Phelps, go for two more golds in his quest to break the record for most gold medals won in a single Olympics.
Event No. 3: 200 freestyle will be swam Tuesday morning Beijing time, Monday night in the U.S. How hard is it: Seventh-toughest. You will be able to catch this event at just past 11 pm EST Monday night.
From ESPN.com:
Phelps should dominate this event. He's got 1.75 seconds on his closest competition in 2008 times. The X factor could be Dutch Olympic veteran Pieter van den Hoogenband, a former world-record holder in this event who won gold in Sydney in 2000 and finished second ahead of Phelps in Athens in '04. He has pulled some big upsets in his time, including beating superstar Aussie Ian Thorpe in his home country eight years ago. But van de Hoogenband is now 30, and his '08 best is nearly three seconds behind Phelps.
Michael Phelps was a -2500 favorite (odds cut in half from when he had previously been a -5000 favorite at Monday morning's event). Odds were courtesy of BetUS.com
Other odds were as follows:
Michael Phelps (USA) -2500
Peter Vanderkaay (USA) +1000 (a $100 bet would pay $1000)
Park Tae Hwan (KOR) +1400 (a $100 bet would pay $1400)
Jean Basson (RSA) +2500 (a $100 bet would pay $2500)
Paul Biedermann (GER) +5000 (a $100 bet would pay $5000)
Event No. 4: 200 butterfly
When is the final: Wednesday morning Beijing time, Tuesday night in the U.S.
How hard is it: Easiest of the bunch.
From ESPN.com:
This is Phelps' baby. He has held the world record for nearly 7½ years and has posted the five fastest times in the history of the event. A mistimed finish in the U.S. trials is probably the only thing that separated him from lowering his own record -- he missed by .11 seconds.
The only other swimmer in the all-time top nine times in the 200 fly is American teammate Gil Stovall, who finished 1.66 seconds behind Phelps at the trials. Stovall is an Olympic rookie who will be racing for silver, as will everyone else in the final.
Phelps was actually a -1300 favorite to win the gold here at BetUS.com. Considering how big a favorite he was in previous events, this might be a great value pick.
Odds were courtesy of BetUS.com
Michael Phelps (USA) -1300
Ryan Lochte (USA) +450
Laszlo Cseh (HUN) +2000
James Goddard (GBR) +5000
Liam Tancock (GBR) +6500
Thiago Pereira (BRA) +6500
Gregor Tait (GBR) +10000
Brian Johns (CAN) +12000
Dinko Jukic (AUT) +15000
Tamas Kerekjarto (HUN) +15000
Leith Brodie (AUS) +20000
Vytautas Janusaitis (LTU) +20000
