As CPL pointed out, the "records" weren't too meaningful. They were being broken every day in Beijing. Better to compare Phelps to the other guys in the pool in that race. 8 guys competed between France and USA: Jason Lezak (46.06) Frédérick Bousquet (46.63) Alain Bernard (46.73) Fabien Gilot (47.05) Garrett Weber-Gale (47.02) Michael Phelps (47.51) Cullen Jones (47.65) Amaury Leveaux (47.91)