Michael Phelps beat Serbian swimmer Milorad Čavić by 0.01 seconds in the 100-metre butterfly at the 2008 Olympics.
The final in Beijing on August 16, 2008, was one of the closest races of Phelps’s career. Čavić led for much of the event and appeared to reach for the wall first, but Phelps finished in 50.58 seconds, compared with Čavić’s 50.59. The electronic timing system awarded Phelps the gold medal by one hundredth of a second.
The result was controversial because television replays made it look as if Čavić’s hand touched the wall first. Serbia filed a protest, but swimming’s governing body reviewed the footage and confirmed the official result. The decisive detail was that Phelps fully activated the touchpad before Čavić did.
Čavić was born in Anaheim, California, but competed internationally for Serbia and was identified as a Serbian swimmer. His silver medal was Serbia’s first Olympic medal in swimming. The race earned Phelps his seventh Beijing gold and tied Mark Spitz’s record for most golds at a single Games at that point.