When the legendary Mark Spitz captured his seventh gold medal in a single Olympic Games in 1972, few, if any, believed it would one day be broken.

Yet Michael Phelps did the unthinkable on this day in 2008 by going one better with his eighth gold in Beijing, setting a new mark.

Phelps’ triumph came in the 4×100 metre relay, along with American team-mates Brendan Hansen, Aaron Peirsol and Jason Lezak.

The group also set a new world record with a time of 3 minutes, 29.34 seconds.

When Phelps jumped into the pool, USA were trailing Australia and Japan, but as he’s so often done in his marvellous career, the Olympian dazzled to victory.

1973: Willie Mays hits his 660th and final home run of his career.

1997: Davis Love III claims the PGA Championship with a score of 269 at Winged Foot Golf Club.

2013: Usain Bolt (below) wins 200m at the World Championships in Athletics.

2014: England win the fifth Investec Test against India at the Oval by an innings and 244 runs, completing a 3-1 series victory.