US swimmer Michael Phelps has insisted he is not unbeatable despite providing yet more evidence to the contrary.
Phelps collected his fourth and fifth golds in Beijing, the 10th and 11th of his career, in the 200 metres butterfly and 4x200m freestyle relay - both in world-record times.
Added to his six golds from Athens four years ago, that meant Phelps surpassed the nine golds won by Paavo Nurmi, Carl Lewis, Mark Spitz and Larysa Latynina to cement his place in Olympic history.
The 23-year-old has three events left and remains on course to beat Spitz's achievement of seven golds in one Games after winning his heat in the 200m individual medley on Wednesday, but claimed: "It's not over yet. Anything can happen in the next three events.
"This is something we have been preparing for for the last four years. All the work is starting to pay off. But I am not unbeatable. Everyone can be beaten."
Phelps had to overcome his goggles filling with water to win the 200m butterfly in one minute 52.03 seconds, lowering his own world record by 0.06s ahead of Hungary's Laszlo Cseh and Japan's Takeshi Matsuda.
"I'm almost at a loss for words. To be the most decorated Olympian of all time, it just sounds weird. I am speechless," Phelps added.
"It started to sink in a little after the butterfly. I was trying to focus on my next race but I kept thinking 'Wow. Greatest Olympian of all time.' It's a pretty neat title and I'm definitely honoured.
"When you have an Olympic gold medal it stays with you forever. It never gets old listening to your national anthem with a gold medal around your neck."
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