BEIJING - It was supposed to be his easiest day of the meet, really.

Michael Phelps owns the 200-meter butterfly, an event in which he has held the world record for more than seven years. And the men's 800 freestyle relay was a cinch as well, with the men having regularly trained the event in world-record times.

Then Phelps dived into the pool for his 200 fly and encountered a slight problem with his eyewear.

"I dove in and they filled right up with water," Phelps said of his goggles. "It got worse and worse as the race went on. At the 150 (meter) wall to the finish, I couldn't see the wall. I was hoping I was winning and hoping I would touch the wall first."

No worries. He not only touched the wall first but broke his own world record in the event with a time of 1 minute, 52.03 seconds.

It not only put Phelps halfway to the eight gold-medal mark in one Games that the world so eagerly anticipates him reaching, but it made him the most golden Olympic athlete of all time.

The 10th gold medal in his career broke a tie Phelps held with four other athletes, including Spitz and American track legend Carl Lewis. It also tied him with fellow American swimmer Jenny Thompson for the most medals, 12, for any U.S. Olympian. He would later grab and 11th gold and 13th medal overall with the U.S. men's convincing win in the 800-meter freestyle relay, making him the winningest U.S. Olympian ever.

Phelps' world record was one of six world records set in Wednesday morning's session (Tuesday night in the States). And it was just his first of the day.

When he stepped foot on the starting block for the 800 relay, Phelps was near certain his team would set another world mark. It was just a matter of how far under the 7:03.24 U.S. mark from the 2007 world championships the group would go.

Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Ricky Berens and Peter Vanderkaay ended up smashing the record by more than four seconds, coming in at 6:58.56, more than five seconds ahead of the second-place Russians.

When the men's semifinals were through, the records continued to drop.

American Katie Hoff, who qualified second for in the 200 free and was swimming out of lane five, swam an American record of 1:55.78.

And that was still only good enough for fourth place, as Italian Federica Pellegrini set the world record with a time of 1:54.82. Pellegrini had set the world record two days earlier in a preliminary race, and the top three finishers in the final were all under the that previous world record mark.

After Stephanie Rice set the world record in the 200 IM with a time of 2:08.45, beating out Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe and American Natalie Coughlin, who secured bronze, there were five individual world records times set in this session alone. And when the U.S. men ended the day with a blistering 800 freestyle relay, it was a total of six.

There were no world records set in the semifinals of the men's 200 breast, but American Scott Spann finished with the third-best qualifying time for the final in 2:09.08, behind Japan's Kosuke Kitajima and Canada's Mike Andrew Brown.

In women's gymnastics:

Tthe biggest, fiercest rivalry between the U.S. and Chinese Olympic teams involves the tiniest athletes on both teams, the pony-tailed pixies with rock-hard muscles and nerves of steel. Women's gymnastics is one sport in which the U.S. and China both dominate, and this city prides itself on its spectacular acrobatics shows, so Wednesday's women's team final was the hottest ticket in town.

A crowd of 18,000 packed the National Indoor Stadium to see the showdown between the past two world champions, and it lived up to expectations. Hundreds of fans chanting "U-S-A!'' and waving American flags were drowned out by the deafening cheers of the hometown fans.

The loudest cheer was yet to come. China won the gold medal thanks to brilliant bar routines, few mistakes, and two critical errors by U.S. gymnast Alicia Sacramone, a 20-year-old Brown University student and the team's emotional leader.

Sacramone fell as she got onto the beam, and fell during her floor exercise. The most expressive gymnast on the U.S. team, Sacramone buried her head into her hands as her floor score (14.1) was posted. So long as China performed well on floor, they would win the title, and that they did. The event ended with a flawless routine by Cheng Fei, and the Chinese fans erupted from their seats.

China tallied 188.9 points. The U.S. won the silver with 186.525 points, and defending champion Romania won bronze with 181.525.

Medal count:

By the end of Tuesday, the United States had scored 27 medals: 10 gold, 8 silver and 9 bronze. It was trailed by China with 22 medals, although China led the gold-medal tally with 14.

Also Tuesday:

— The men's gymnastics team pulled off a surprising bronze. Competing without stars Paul and Morgan Hamm, the Americans finished behind China and Japan.

— Venus Williams rolled to the third round of the women's tennis tournament with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic.

— The U.S. men's volleyball team defeated Italy 3-1 (24-26, 25-22, 25-15, 25-21).

— Glenn Eller earned the gold in the men's double trap shooting event, setting an Olympic record in the finals.

— Howard Bach and Bob Malaythong became the first American team to advance to an Olympic quarterfinals in badminton, defeating the Republic of South Africa team of Chris and Roelof Dednam 21-10, 21-6. Next up is the No. 2 Chinese team.

— Jennie Finch and Monica Abbott combined on a no-hitter in an 11-0, 5-inning rout of Venezuela. The 11 runs was an Olympic record.

— Anna Tunnicliffe scored a 4th and a 5th today in the 28-boat Laser Radial class and leads the fleet, with one point ahead of Belgian Evi Van Acker.

— Venus and Serena Williams survived a scare in the first round of women's doubles before defeating Iveta Benesova and Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic 4-6, 7-5, 6-1.

— The U.S. beat Angola 97-76 in a game that could only be described as a comedown from Sunday's electric opener against China.

— The men's beach volleyball team of Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers defeated Martin Conde and Mariano Baracetti of Argentina 21-12, 21-13 in Pool B play.

— Gina Miles rode McKinlaigh to an individual silver medal in the equestrian eventing competition in Hong Kong.