Phelps breaks Leonidas' 2000-year-old record

Checking over the history books - the really old and dusty ones - it turns out Michael Phelps has broken yet another record.

This one, however, has stood for a wee while, 2000 years, in fact.

With his win in the 200m individual medley he racked up his 13th individual win, which took him past the mark of 12 wins set by Leonidas of Rhodes in 152 B.C.

It seems that while everyone had been proclaiming Phelps the the greatest Olympian of all time, they had forgotten to take into account the mark set so long ago.

Leonidas by all accounts won three different events at four separate Olympiads, stretching from 164 B.C. to 152 B.C (there's unfortunately no footage to corroborate this).

It's not a record that was on many people's radars, but thanks to some history buffs we can now, finally, officially proclaim Phelps as the greatest (alluding only to winning) Olympian of all time.

The win in the 200m individual medley also gave Phelps record of being the first athlete to win the same event four times in succession.

Speaking after his win in the 200m butterfly - the win that took him equal with Leonidas - Phelps took a moment to philosophise about his haul.

"That's a lot of medals," grinned the American. "We got a lot of medals. It's just insane. It's mind-blowing."