Phelps exacts his revenge on Thorpe

MELBOURNE, Mar 27 (Reuters) No one was more disappointed than Michael Phelps when Ian Thorpe announced his retirement last year.

The American had been waiting years for the chance to avenge his loss to Thorpe in the 200 metres freestyle final at the Athens Olympics.

Thorpe's victory over Phelps ended the American's chance of matching Michael Spitz's record haul of seven gold medals at a single Olympics.

Phelps had also missed out on a promised a one million dollar bonus if he won seven golds but the money was the last thing on his mind. Phelps has made no secret of his ambition to be remembered as the greatest swimmer of all time but to stake his claim, he had to beat Thorpe.

The Australian's premature retirement last year robbed Phelps of his chance to beat him in the pool so the 21-year-old set himself a new goal -- to break Thorpe's seemingly untouchable 200 freestyle world record of one minute 44.06 seconds.

It seemed an ambitious goal, given that Phelps had never gone below 1:45.00, but the enormity of the challenge only strengthened his resolve.

He rededicated himself to training, determined not only to break the record, but to do it at the 2007 world championships in Thorpe's homeland.

Phelps delivered on his promise in spectacular fashion today, slicing 0.20 seconds off Thorpe's record to win the world title in 1:43.86 and resolve forever the argument over which of them was the best swimmer of their generation.

''I was definitely looking forward to racing Ian here and I was disappointed when he retired,'' Phelps told reporters after the race.

''Even before Ian retired I wanted to come into this country and race him ... but the biggest thing for me was just being able to come to Australia and do it.'' Phelps said he knew from the moment he arrived at the pool today evening that he was about to break the record.

''It was not completely unexpected. As soon as I took the first stroke in the warm-up pool I thought something special was going to happen tonight,'' he said.

''It was pretty close to the perfect race for me tonight.

''A world record is exciting no matter how you put it and no matter what it is and how far under it.

''To be the best in the world is something that is pretty remarkable and pretty incredible.'' US men's head coach Bob Bowman said he had never seen a better-executed race from a swimmer.

''He did it exactly the way it needed to be done,'' Bowman said.

''To go under 1.44, the last lap of that is nearly the best lap I have seen him swim. It was beautiful.'' Phelps already holds the world record for the 200 and 400 individual medley and the 200 butterfly but claiming the 200 freestyle mark from Thorpe has elevated him to a whole new level, according to Jacco Verhaeren, the coach of Pieter van den Hoogenband of the Netherlands.

Van den Hoogenband, who holds the world record for 100 freestyle, finished second behind Thorpe when he set the previous world record for 200 at the 2001 world championships in Japan and was second again to Phelps on Tuesday.

''We all know what an amazing swimmer Thorpe was, but who would have thought two years later along comes a better one,'' Verhaeren said.

Reuters SAM DB1955