He has withdrawn from his final race at the Olympics so a teammate will have a shot at a gold metal.

Phelps, who already swam in the morning preliminaries on the medley relay, earned a right to swim the final by beating Crocker in the 100 fly Friday night by a minuscule four-hundredths of a second. But Phelps said he would cede his coveted spot in the final to Crocker.

"We came into this meet as a team and we're going to leave it as a team," Phelps said. "It's the right thing to do."

The stunning decision means Phelps, likely to be the biggest star of the Athens Games, is finished after swimming 17 races in seven days. Since he swam in the preliminaries, he would still get a medal if the U.S. team reaches the podium in Saturday night's medley final.

Frankly, I'm impressed. Sounds like his parents raised him right.