BEIJING -- Of all the swimming sessions in Beijing, this is the one Michael Phelps had to worry about the least. In fact, his worrying days might be over.

One record down, several more to go.

Phelps became the Olympics' all-time gold medal leader Wednesday with two more wins at the National Aquatics Center -- one by himself in the 200-meter butterfly and one as part of the United States' winning 800-meter freestyle relay team.

It gave the 23-year-old American 11 career gold medals, two more than any other athlete in history, and put him more than halfway to breaking Mark Spitz's 36-year-old record of seven gold medals in one Olympics.

"The end is close," Phelps said. "I love it."

He now has now five gold medals in Beijing. The last two were all but guaranteed. Phelps lowered his own world record in the 200 butterfly by .06 seconds despite having trouble seeing the last two walls through the water that filled his goggles.

He may not have been able to see the swimmers on either side of him pushing their way into contention, but it didn't matter. Also the 2004 gold medalist in this distance, Phelps touched at 1 minute, 52.03 seconds.

His 10th gold medal moved him out of a tie with Spitz, American track and field star Carl Lewis, former Soviet gymnast Larissa Latynina and Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi for the all-time Olympic gold medal record.

"I couldn't see anything for the last 100 (meters)," Phelps said of the race. "My goggles pretty much filled with water and it kept getting worse and worse through the race and I was having trouble seeing the walls, to be honest.

"But I wanted to break the record. I wanted to 1:51 or better, but for the circumstances I guess it's not too bad."

Cseh won silver behind Phelps for the second time here after also finishing second to the American's first gold medal swim in the 400 IM on Sunday. He touched in 1:52.70 -- .67 seconds behind Phelps -- for a new European record.

Matsuda took the bronze and set a new Asian record at 1:52.97.

Less than an hour later, Phelps was in the pool again for the 800 freestyle relay, a race the Americans were an overwhelming favorite to win. Swimming the first leg, he gave his team nearly a two-body-lengths lead over the first 200 meters while putting them more than two seconds ahead of their own world record pace.

Ryan Lochte, Ricky Berens and Peter Vanderkaay swam further under the world record pace over the next 600 meters until Vanderkaay touched to finish his anchor leg and secure the U.S. the first sub-seven minute time ever in the event.

The foursome broke the world record Phelps, Lochte and Vanderkaay set with Klete Keller last year by 4.68 seconds, finishing at 6:58.56 to successfully defend the gold the U.S. won in Athens four years ago.

"We talked about breaking seven minutes," said Phelps, "and we did it."

Russia's European-record swim of 7:03.70 wasn't nearly good enough, as the country finished more than five seconds behind the U.S. at 7:03.70. Australia won bronze at 7:04.98.

Phelps has now been part of a world record in each of his gold medal swims here, also winning the 400-meter medley and 200-meter freestyle as individual events. He was part of the thrilling, record-setting 400-meter freestyle relay the U.S. ran Monday.

He only has three events remaining, and he's won gold in all three before: the 200-meter individual medley, the 100-meter butterfly and the 400-meter medley relay (though he didn't swim the final of that event in Athens).

If Phelps goes on to break Spitz's Holy Grail record for gold medals in one Olympics -- or even if he wins eight medals of any kind here -- Phelps would be the all-time winningest medal winner among male Olympians with 16.

Said Phelps: "From now on it's just a downward slope" -- in momentum, that is.

Other Olympic Swimming News

Also on Wednesday, Federica Pellegrini of Italy won the gold medal and broke her own world record in the women's 200-meter freestyle. Pellegrini, who had set the old mark on Monday, lowered it by .63 seconds to 1 minute, 54.82 seconds to win by just less than one-tenth of a second.

"I have been expecting to win for the last four years," said Pellegrini, the 2004 silver medalist. So I have been avenged."

Slovenia's Sara Isakovic won the silver medal, her country's first in swimming, at 2:06.34 while China's Pang Jiaying took bronze in 2:06.42.

American Katie Hoff failed to win her third medal of the Beijing Olympics, finishing .73 seconds out of contention for the bronze with a new American record in the event of 1:55.78.

Hoff also finished fourth in the day's other final, the 200-meter individual medley, where U.S. teammate Natalie Coughlin won the bronze to go along with the backstroke gold she won Tuesday.

Stephanie Rice of Australia lowered her own world record in the 200 IM by .47 seconds to 2 minutes, 8.45 seconds, claiming her second gold medal of the Beijing Olympics. Rice also won the women's 400 IM on Sunday.

Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry has finished second behind Rice in both races, claiming silver again on Wednesday with a time of 2:08.59 -- .14 seconds behind the winner. It was Coventry's third silver medal here.

Coughlin finished a distant third, touching 1.89 seconds after Coventry at 2:10.34 for her bronze.

Rice said the two other swimmers pushed her to go faster.

"It's really good being next to Natalie. She pushed me the first 100 meters," said Rice. "And Kirsty swam amazing as always."