BEIJING (AP) — It took 112 years worth of Olympics for one athlete to collect 10 gold medals. About an hour later, Michael Phelps made it 11.

Phelps won the 200-meter butterfly Wednesday morning to stamp himself as the mightiest Olympian in history, then got back in the pool and continued his quest toward having the greatest single Olympics by helping the U.S. win the 800 freestyle relay.

He's 5-for-5 in victories and world records in Beijing, putting him more than halfway toward his goal of eight titles. Mark Spitz's once-unfathomable haul of seven wins has stood since 1972, but may have only a few days left.

After doubling up on finals Wednesday, Phelps will catch his breath Thursday, then dive back into his pursuit of history with finals Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Phelps thrilled Kobe Bryant and the rest of the Water Cube by winning the butterfly, but he "only" lowered his record by 0.06. A concerned look on his face showed something was wrong. Turns out, it was just a pair of leaky goggles.

Nothing went wrong in the relay. Swimming first, he put the Americans ahead after 25 meters and well toward the record. His teammates stretched the lead to comic proportions, making sure they didn't need anything like the dramatic finish to win the 400 freestyle relay.

As much as Phelps is making victories and records look routine, it never gets boring, considering the tens of thousands of athletes who've competed in all the Olympic sports — summer and winter — since 1896 and realize none was as successful as Phelps. Finland's Paavo Nurmi won nine medals, then Russia's Larysa Latynina matched him. Decades passed and Spitz and Carl Lewis were the only ones to join the club.

Now this 23-year-old phenom from Baltimore has already topped them all, and who knows what's in store for 2012 in London.

"He's not just winning, he's absolutely destroying everything," teammate Aaron Peirsol said Tuesday. "It's awesome to watch."

Get this: If Phelps was his own nation (The Republic of Phelps? Phelpsistan? The Kingdom of Phelps?), he would be tied with South Korea for the third-most golds at these games.

As it is, he has a 5-4 advantage over the rest of the U.S. delegation. He's also helped the Americans to a 25-21 lead over China in the overall medals race. The Chinese lead 13-9 in golds. Other than the U.S., no country has as many total medals as China has of the very best color.

Also Wednesday morning, the U.S. women gymnastics team made several mistakes and settled for silver, a disappointing second to China for Shawn Johnson, Nastia Liukin and crew.

Back at the pool, Phelps' pseudo sister, fellow Baltimore swimmer Katie Hoff, finished fourth in the 200 freestyle, marking her first nonmedal finish in three events here and keeping her without gold.

Italy's Federica Pellegrini won it in a world-record time. Australia's Stephanie Rice won her second gold, taking the 200 individual medley in a world-record time. Her ex-beau, countryman Eamon Sullivan, set the 100 freestyle world record in a semifinal heat.

The exciting start to Day 5 continues the excitement of Day 4 in Beijing.

There were a bunch more medals and records at the pool, plus cancer patient Eric Shanteau getting into the semifinals of the 200-meter breaststroke. There was the practically flawless performance by China's men's gymnasts and the plucky bronze for the Hamm-less U.S. men. There was superb pitching and powerful hitting in a record rout by the U.S. women's softball team.

Men's gymnastics

The Chinese were supposed to win. The Americans weren't even necessarily supposed to be in the finals, not after losing Paul and Morgan Hamm to injuries in the 10 days before the Olympics.

When the final standings popped up — and the U.S. was behind China and Japan but ahead of Germany — Jonathan Horton screamed: "Nobody believed in us! Nobody believed in us."

China was a heavy favorite because it won seven of the last eight world titles, including the last three.

With no Olympic veterans, nobody expected much from the Americans. They were second after four events, then slipped behind Japan going to their final apparatus, the pommel horse, which is their weakest routine.

It all came down to Sasha Artemev, the second replacement. He can dazzle, but he can also flop. He dazzled all right.

"It was amazing," said Paul Hamm, who watched with Morgan from back home in Columbus, Ohio. "That's like the moment he's been waiting for."

Men's basketball

Coming off a 31-point win over host China and knowing that next up is Greece — the team that stunned them two years ago in the semifinals of the world championship — the "Redeem Team" merely had to take care of business against Angola. The Americans did just that, winning 97-76 behind 19 points from Dwyane Wade, 14 from Dwight Howard and 12 from LeBron James.

Boxing

Rau'Shee Warren worked four years to become the first two-time American boxing Olympian in 30 years. Then, in his first match, he made the huge mistake of spending the last 35 seconds trying to protect a lead when he actually was behind.