BEIJING - Michael Phelps rolled out of bed Tuesday (Monday night EDT) and headed back to the bubble-skinned Water Cube, his $200 million home away from home during these Olympics. Phelps ought to just set up a cot at the aquatic center, for he is racing 17 times in his quest for an Olympic-record eight gold medals.

So far, the cube has been his private temple.

He made it three-for-three for gold medals, and three-for-three for world records, with a jaw-dropping victory in the 200-meter freestyle. Phelps, swimming in Lane 6 rather than his familiar Lane 4, exploded off the blocks and jumped out to a huge lead. By the halfway mark, he was a full body-length ahead of eventual silver medalist Park Tae-Hwan of South Korea.

Phelps captured his third gold in 1:42.96, shaving 0.90 seconds off his old world mark, set in Melbourne, Australia, in 2007. He beat Tae-Hwan by nearly two seconds. Joining Phelps on the podium was teammate Peter Vanderkaay (Rochester, Mich.), who won the bronze with a time of 1:45.14.

Phelps is still chasing Mark Spitz, who won seven golds in 1972, but he tied the U.S. swimming icon on one count. He now has nine career gold medals, which puts him in an elite list that includes Spitz, Larissa Latynina (gymnastics, Soviet Union), Carl Lewis (track and field, USA), and Paavo Nurmi (track and field, Finland).

In other marquee swimming events, Natalie Coughlin won gold in her signature event, the 100-meter backstroke, and world-record holder Aaron Peirsol led a 1-2 U.S. finish in the 100-meter backstroke.

Coughlin (Lafayette, Calif.) was joined on the podium by teammate and bronze medalist Margaret Hoelzer (Huntsville, Ala.)

Coughlin won in 58.96 seconds, edging Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry by 0.23. Coventry, who went to Auburn and trains in Texas, had set a world record in the semifinals of the event a day earlier.

Hoelzer was fifth at the turn, but swam the return leg in 29.02 to secure a medal.

Peirsol (Irvine, Calif.) posted a time of 52.54 seconds, breaking his own world record of 52.89, set July 1 at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Omaha, Neb. He finished 0.57 ahead of teammate Matt Grevers (Lake Forest, Ill.), who took the silver in 53.11 seconds. The bronze medal went to Russia's Arkady Vyatchanin, who touched in 53.18 seconds.

Also Monday:

— China lost 108-63 to the United States in women's basketball, giving the Americans a 2-0 record in their Olympic tournament group.

— Tyson Gay, who worked out at Beijing Normal University on Sunday, deemed himself "100 percent" and "fully recovered" Monday from a strained left hamstring. He races for the first time Friday.

— Venus Williams began her bid for a second Olympic gold medal in women's singles, defeating Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland, 6-3, 6-2.

— The U.S. women's water polo team edged host China 12-11.

— Christine Magnuson claimed the silver medal in the women's 100-meter butterfly with a time of 57.10 seconds, 0.37 behind gold medalist Lisbeth Trickett of Australia.

— Brendan Hansen placed fourth in the men's 100-meter breaststroke. Hansen's time of 59.57 seconds was 0.66 off the pace set by gold medalist Kosuke Kitajima of Japan, who erased Hansen's world record with a time of 58.91.

— In a squeaker, American Katie Hoff was edged out of a gold medal in the women's 400-meter freestyle by Great Britain's Rebecca Adlington, who touched the wall with a 4:03.22, a mere 0.07 seconds ahead of Hoff.

— Californians Nicole Branagh and Elaine Youngs kept their 2008 Olympic Games record unblemished with a 21-17, 21-16 victory over the German team of Stephanie Pohl and Okka Rau in beach volleyball.

— In women's volleyball, the United States lost to Cuba 25-15, 26-24, 25-17 on the second day of pool-play matches.

— Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor won their 103rd straight women's beach volleyball match with a 21-15, 21-16 victory over Cuba.

— Rebecca Soni won the silver medal in the women's 100-meter breaststroke. Gold went to Leisel Jones of Australia, while Mirna Jukic of Austria won the bronze.