McClatchy Newspapers

BEIJING — Even Michael Phelps couldn’t believe his eyes. He said he had to take off his goggles to make sure it was his name, and not Milorad Cavic, next to the No. 1 after a thrilling finish in the Olympic 100-meter butterfly.

Phelps, who was in seventh place at the turn, surged in the final few meters and somehow managed to out-touch the Serbian-American Cavic by a hundredth of a second. To the naked eye, it was nearly impossible to tell who won. And from some camera angles, it appeared Cavic had the gold. But the Omega electronic clock read: Phelps 50.58. Cavic 50.59.

The Serbian team was disputing the result, but FINA officials met with team leaders after the race and reviewed the video footage. The Serbians accepted the result after seeing the tape.

Cavic was gracious in defeat and said he was “honored” to be the guy who almost beat Phelps.

It was Phelps’ seventh gold medal at these Olympics, which ties Mark Spitz’s 36-year-old record from Munich. He will attempt to break the record Sunday morning in the 4x100 medley relay.

Phelps was humbled to be on the same seven-gold pedestal as Spitz.

“The biggest thing is when someone says you can’t do things, when people say it’s impossible to tie or break these records, I proved anything’s possible,” he said. “If you put in the hard work and put your mind to it, anything’s possible.”

This time, there was no world record, as there had been for Phelps’ previous six golds. Instead, the Baltimore phenom proved he can win in the tightest of races. Phelps made up ground in the final 50, and took an extra half-stroke at the finish, which would seem to have hurt him as Cavic’s hands were already underwater gliding to the wall. But Phelps’ extra kick surged him forward with force at the touchpad.

Elsewhere:

The United States and Cuba are political adversaries and fierce baseball rivals, so the preliminary-round game between the teams had the feel of a gold-medal showdown. Cuba needed nearly four hours, 11 innings and a new tiebreaker rule to shake off the Americans, 5-4.

Afterward, U.S. manager Davey Johnson accused Cuban relief pitcher Pedro Lazo of intentionally throwing at Jayson Nix’s head when Nix was attempting to bunt in the bottom of the 11th inning. The ball fouled off Nix’s eye, and he was taken to the hospital for treatment. Dr. William Kuprevich, chief medical officer of the U.S. Olympic Team, announced that Nix will not return to play during the Games.

Cuban manager Antonio Pacheco and Lazo vehemently denied the pitch was aimed at Nix’s head.

“That is a lack of respect on the part of the U.S. manager to say that,” Pacheco said. “The Cuban team is very professional. We respect the game and our opponents. We are incapable of doing that.”

Friday’s game had added significance because baseball was kicked out of the Olympics after these Games, so the Cubans and Americans could be meeting for the last time. Baseball will not be contested at the 2012 Olympics in London, and the International Olympic Committee will vote in October 2009 on whether to reinstate it for the 2016 menu.

In other events:

— Matt Emmons won the silver medal in the men’s 50-meter prone rifle competition.

— The U.S. softball team hit an Olympic-record four home runs on the way to a 7-0 victory over Japan in five innings.

— The U.S. women’s table tennis team won its first match of the bronze playoff round by defeating Romania 3-1. The U.S. women will return to action today, playing the loser of Friday’s match between Korea and Singapore.

— In tennis, Venus and Serena Williams defeated Ayumi Morita and Ai Sugiyama of Japan 7-5, 6-2, completing a second-round match suspended the previous night at 1 a.m. due to rain.

— Natalie Golda scored three goals to spark the offense and give the U.S. women’s water polo team a 12-7 victory over Russia in Group A competition.

— U.S. shooter Jason Turner was awarded a bronze medal in the 10-meter air pistol after Kim Jong Su from North Korea was disqualified for a positive drug test. Turner was fourth in the competition before Kim’s doping positive.

— James Blake lost to Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez, the tennis singles bronze medal winner and gold medalist in doubles at Athens in 2004, in the men’s singles semifinals 4-6, 7-5, 11-9. Blake will face either Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic for the bronze medal today.

— In the continuation of a game suspended Thursday afternoon due to weather, the U.S. softball team defeated Canada, 8-1.

— Natasha Kai scored on a diving header in the 101st minute to give the U.S. women’s soccer team a 2-1 overtime victory against Canada.

— Christian Cantwell went from fifth place to the silver medal on his final throw of the night in men’s shot put competition.

— Tina Thompson tallied 17 points as five Americans scored in double figures in the U.S. women’s basketball team’s 93-55 victory over Spain.

— Margaret Hoelzer swam a 2:06.23 time in the women’s 200-meter backstroke to capture silver.

— Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers advanced to the beach volleyball quarterfinals by defeating Martin Laciga and Jan Schnider of Switzerland 21-16, 21-23, 15-13 in the round of 16.

— The U.S. men’s volleyball team defeated China 25-22, 25-12, 25-18, in pool play. The match marked the return of head coach Hugh McCutcheon, who missed the first three games after his father-in-law, Todd Bachman, was stabbed to death in Beijing last week. Bachmann’s wife, Barbara, who was seriously injured in the incident, departed Beijing via air ambulance and was transferred to a hospital in the United States.

— The U.S. women’s field hockey team defeated New Zealand 4-1 in pool play.