Michael Phelps won his eighth Olympic gold medal of the Beijing Games to beat Mark Spitz's 1972 record of seven, with victory in the 4x100m medley.
The 23-year-old American teamed up with Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hansen and Jason Lezak to claim the historic gold in a new world record time.
They held off Australia and Japan to claim glory in a world record time of three minutes 29.34 seconds.
Great Britain's quartet finished back in sixth place.
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It also took his Olympic medal haul to 14 golds and 16 overall.
Victory in the 4x100m relay rounded off a remarkable Olympics for Phelps who has dominated the action in the Water Cube, also setting seven world records.
But Sunday's relay victory was far from starightforward with Lezak on the last lap pushed all the way by Australian Eamon Sullivan who narrowly missed out on spoling the Phelps party.
Phelps admitted to being overwhelmed after achieving his feat, and was quick to pay tribute to his US team-mates.
"I don't even know what to feel right now," Phelps said.
"There's so much emotions going through my head and so much excitement. I kind of just want to see my mom.
"Without the help of my teammates this isn't possible.
"I was able to be a part of three relays and we were able to put up a solid team effort and we came together as one unit.
"For the three Olympics I've been a part of, this is by far the closest men's team that we've ever had.
"I didn't know everybody coming into this Olympics, butI feel going out I know every single person very well. The team that we had is the difference."
He added: "Nothing is impossible
"With so many people saying it couldn't be done, all it takes is an imagination, and that's something I learned and something that helped me."
More to follow.
(BBC)
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