United States' Michael Phelps swims to setting a new world record and winning the gold in the final of the men's 400-metre individual medley during the swimming competition in the National Aquatics Centre at the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Beijing yesterday. - AP

BEIJING (AP):

Michael Phelps jumped off the starting blocks and started his race to history yesterday, winning the 400-metre individual medley for the first of his possible eight gold medals.

The American swimmer won the race in style, setting a world record of four minutes, 3.84 seconds.

"That was a pretty emotional race," Phelps said. "I knew it was going to be a tough race all the way through."

This race had been considered to be Phelps' toughest test, but the American swimmer looked impressive all the way. Laszlo Cseh of Hungary took the silver in 4:06.16, while Ryan Lochte of the United States faded to third in 4:08.09 - more than four seconds behind. Phelps is trying to overtake the seven gold medals won by Mark Spitz at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

Main events

Fourteen gold medals were awarded yesterday, but most eyes were on the four main events in the pool.

That was until Chinese superstar Yao Ming took the court against the United States. He and the hosts lost 101-70, with Yao managing just 13 points in one of the most anticipated events of the Olympics.

Stephanie Rice of Australia won the women's 400 IM (individual medley) in a world record time of 4:29.45. Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe was second in 4:29.89 and Katie Hoff of the United States took bronze in 4:31.71.

"I sort of turned around and thought I saw 4:31 and I was thinking, 'That hurt a lot for a 4:31,"' Rice said. "But when I walked over and saw the 4:29, I thought, 'That's amazing."'

Park Tae-hwan of South Korea won the men's 400 freestyle. The current world champion finished in 3:41.86 and Zhang Lin of China earned his country's first swimming medal of the games, claiming silver in 3:42.78.

In the evening preliminaries, the United States set a world record in the men's 400-metre freestyle relay. The team of Nathan Adrian, Cullen Jones, Ben Wildman-Tobriner and Matt Grevers won their heat in 3:12.23, erasing the old mark of 3:12.46 set by the United States at the 2006 Pan Pacific Championships in Victoria, British Columbia.

BIGGEST SURPRISE

The biggest surprise on a dismal first day of Olympic tennis came from Ana Ivanovic, who didn't even play. The top-seeded Serb withdrew yesterday because of inflammation in her right thumb that has bothered her for several weeks. Her decision was announced after play was called for the day with only nine of 45 scheduled matches completed.

"It was just too painful," the Serb said. "I haven't played at all the last 10 days."

Among the few players to complete victories was James Blake. Serena Williams was interrupted with a one-set lead and despite a long wait, Roger Federer never got on court.

China won four more gold medals to stay at the top the medal standings. Guo Wenjun won the women's 10-metre air pistol, Guo Jingjing and Wu Minxia the women's synchronised three-metre springboard, Xian Dongmei the women's 52-kilogram in judo and Long Qingquan the 56-kilogram class in weightlifting.

South Korea picked up its sixth straight gold medal in women's team archery, where competition was also suspended for a time during the day due to the rain and windy weather. Matteo Tagliariol of Italy won gold in the men's epee.

Also, David Kostelecky of the Czech Republic won the men's trap, Prapawadee Jaroenrattanatarakoon of Thailand the women's 53-kilogram weightlifting title and Nicole Cooke of Britain took the women's road race.