Michael Phelps won the 2008 Olympic 200m individual medley in 1:54.23. The final took place on August 15, 2008, at Beijing’s National Aquatics Center, where Phelps broke his own world record while claiming his sixth gold medal of the Games.
Phelps led after the butterfly and backstroke legs, but Hungary’s László Cseh remained close through the breaststroke. Phelps pulled away during freestyle, finishing well ahead of Cseh and Ryan Lochte. His time lowered the world record from 1:54.80, which Phelps had set at the U.S. Olympic trials several weeks earlier.
The race was one of eight victories Phelps achieved in Beijing. It also demonstrated his unusual versatility: the individual medley requires four different strokes, in the order butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle. A common mix-up is confusing this Olympic final with the 2008 trials, where Phelps also set a record but swam 1:54.80. His Beijing performance, 1:54.23, remained the canonical Olympic winning time.