# Michael Phelps’ eight golds in Beijing

> Phelps won 8 golds as television coverage spread to race replays and Facebook.

- Owner: Michael Phelps; US relay teammates
- Kind: Moment
- Sector: Sports
- Seed date: 2008-08-10
- Milestone date: 2008-08-17
- Date basis: Documented milestone; not a measured attention peak.
- Spread Score: 38 (Niche, provisional), v1.2
- Mechanics: Daily ritual, Controversy, Platform jump, Press loop, Pairing

## Summary

Phelps won eight Beijing golds, surpassing Mark Spitz. NBC’s eighth-gold night was its most-watched Saturday since 1990. Race replays and Facebook congratulations extended the broadcast story; sponsors put it into ads and cereal packaging.

## Timeline

- 2008-08-10 — Michael Phelps (TV) — Phelps won the 400m individual medley in a world record as Swimming World reported his eight-gold bid.
- 2008-08-10 — NBC (TV) — NBC carried the relay comeback that kept Phelps’s eight-gold bid alive.
- 2008-08-12 — Visa (TV) — Visa aired a congratulatory ad in the first break after Phelps won the 200m butterfly.

The full timeline, metrics and sources are on the case page, or via the Pro API (https://howitspread.com/developers).

Canonical URL: https://howitspread.com/cases/michael-phelps-beijing-2008

Cite as: How It Spread (2026). “Michael Phelps’ eight golds in Beijing.” Case HIS-01430. Spread Score v1.2: 38/100. Updated 2026-10-23. https://howitspread.com/id/HIS-01430