Phelps sets Olympic record with relay gold; Canada rakes in rowing medals

Canada also enjoyed success in the water, adding to its weekend haul with a bronze medal in the pool and another strong performance at the rowing regatta.

Day 9 of the Beijing Olympics belonged to Phelps, who won his record-breaking eighth gold of the Games by pacing the relay team to a narrow win in the 4x100 medley relay. The victory moved Phelps ahead of compatriot Mark Spitz, who won seven golds at the 1972 Games in Munich.

"Everything was accomplished," he said. "I will have the medals forever."

The week couldn't have gone much better for the 23-year-old, who set seven world records - some by ridiculously wide margins - while increasing his career gold-medal haul to 14. That's five more than anyone else has ever won, and Phelps will almost certainly add to that total at the 2012 Games in London.

While Phelps's historic Olympics has come to an end, Canada's medal bonanza is just beginning.

A day after breaking its week-long medal drought with three trips to the podium, Canada celebrated its second gold medal of the Games - this one coming from the men's eights rowing team.

The crew, featuring Kyle Hamilton, Adam Kreek, Dominic Seiterle, Malcolm Howard, Jake Wetzel, Andrew Byrnes, Ben Rutledge, Kevin Light and coxswain Brian Price crossed the line in five minutes 23.89 seconds, more than a second ahead of runner-up Great Britain.

The victory punctuated a four-medal day for the Canadian team. The lightweight women's double and the lightweight men's four each won bronze - giving Canada four rowing medals for the weekend - while Ryan Cochrane of Victoria added a third-place finish in the men's 1,500-metre freestyle swimming event.

Canada now has seven medals, good enough to move it into the top-20 overall. China leads the way with 35 golds, while the U.S. has a Games-best 65 medals overall.

Elsewhere, Spain's Rafael Nadal continued his magical 2008 season, winning gold in men's tennis with a straight-sets win over Fernando Gonzalez of Chile. It's the first Olympic tennis gold for Spain, and caps a memorable summer for Nadal, who will take over top spot in the men's rankings from Roger Federer on Monday.

Elena Dementieva won the women's title with a three-set victory over fellow Russian Dinara Safina, while Venus and Serena Williams captured gold in doubles by beating Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain.

Meanwhile, another doping violation has rocked the Games.

Reigning women's 400-metre hurdles champion Fani Halkia of Greece will not defend her Olympic title in Beijing after becoming the latest Greek athlete to fail a doping test.

The International Olympic Committee confirmed Sunday that Halkia tested positive for a steroid at a Greek athletics team training camp in Japan before coming to Beijing.

Halkia is the fourth athlete to test positive during the IOC's Beijing anti-doping program.