The American swimming sensation, training in Singapore, is poised to make Olympic history by bettering Spitz's record of seven gold medals at one Games.

He fell short of that goal in Athens, coming away with a still impressive six gold medals and two bronze. The 23-year-old will swim the same events in Beijing that he tackled in Athens: 200m and 400m individual medleys, 100m and 200m butterflies, 200m freestyle, and three relays.

But while he admits to being in his best form ever, he is riled with comparisons to Spitz. "As far as the Mark Spitz thing goes, I've said this before and I'll say it again -- I want to be the first Michael Phelps and not the second Mark Spitz," he said.

"I don't mean to downplay his accomplishments by any means. For what he did, it was and still is the greatest Olympic performance of all time. He will always be remembered as one of the great Olympians of all time. I'm just lucky that I can be in a position to hopefully do something different to him. I'm just focused on what my goals are."

Ahead of Beijing the American team has been training at Singapore Island Country Club which Phelps said had been the perfect preparation for his Olympic quest.