American phenomenon Michael Phelps chose to halt his miraculous gold sweeping Friday as he gave up his medley relay butterfly berth as well as chance for a sixth gold in the Olympic swimming pool.

Phelps edged past world champion and world record holder Ian Crocker to touch in an Olympic record time of 51.25 for his fifth gold here Friday night while Crocker, who set the world mark at the U.S. Olympic trials in July, had to settle for the silver four hundredths second adrift.

Thus, Phelps won the fly berth in the 4x100m medley relay team, which will swim in the last event of the Olympic competition here.

"For me, giving that is tough. But you know, Ian is one of the greatest relay swimmers on the U.S. team," said Phelps.

"He wasn't feeling well in the 4x100m free relay but I am willing to give him a chance to step up tomorrow night and hopeful to win the relay," said Phelps, crowned with 100m and 200m fly, 200m and 400m individual medley and 4x200m freestyle titles and also having the 100m free and 4x100m free relay bronzes to his collection.

"It has come from Michael," said U.S. men's team coach Eddie Reese.

"Since the race was so close. It is four hundredths second. And Ian's relay take-off is so much better than Michael's. Ian's gonna fly the medley relay tomorrow evening," Reese said.

In the men's 50m free, defending champion Gary Hall brought the U.S. gold medals total to nine after the three-time Olympian retained the title in 21.93 seconds.

"I am so excited about the chance to defend my gold medal from Sydney. I loved it," said Hall, who was diagnosed as a Type 1 diabetes patient in 1999. "It's always harder to defend than to win, so I am really proud."

"Five years ago when I was diagnosed with diabetes, this seemed so far away," Hall said.

The 22-year-old Croatian Duje Draganja, sixth-place finisher in the 100m free here, bagged the silver in 21.94.

South African Roland Schoeman, member of the winning 4x100m free relay team, took bronze in 22.02.

"I'm a little bit disappointed, but a bronze in the Olympics is a great thing. Maybe I would have been there (top of the podium), if I had got the start that I wanted," said Schoeman.

Japanese Ai Shibata emerged as the surprise winner of the women 's 800m freestyle event as she took the third swimming gold for her country 8:24.54.

"I am so surprised tonight, I thought it was a dream," said the 22-year-old Kanoya Sports Institute student.

"I was just aiming to win a medal, but winning gold makes me so happy," she said.

Laura Manaudou, reigning 400m free champion, led the field for more than 750 meters before Shibata overtook her.

"I wasn't winning for the first 600m and when I felt that Manaudou was close, I went for it," Shibata added.

Frenchwoman Manaudou had to settle for the runner-up place in 8: 24.96 while American world silver medalist Diana Munz came third in 8:26.61.

Kosuke Kitajima clinched both men's 100m and 200m breaststroke golds for Japan here before Shibata's triumph.

Zimbabwe's sensation Kirsty Coventry clinched the first Olympic swimming gold for her country when she won the 200m backstroke title in a new African record time of 2:09.19 seconds, adding a gold to her medal collection of a silver and a bronze in the 100m back and 200m individual medley respectively.

"I am so excited. It has been a great week for me. I can't believe it yet," said Coventry, student at Auburn University in the United States.

"I am so proud of the way I am representing my country here and that they have given me the opportunity," she said.

Russian teenager Stanislava Komarova took silver as the 18-year- old European champion touched 0.53 second off the pace.

Japanese Reiko Nakamura and Antje Buschschulte of Germany tied for the third place in 2:09.88.

Source: Xinhua