For such a moment in Olympic history, it was a strangely hole-in-a-corner celebration. The medals ceremony for the men’s 200m freestyle on Tuesday took place under an overhanging ceiling at the end of the pool, in mid-morning (in order to get on US prime-time television) before another less than full house.

However, the champion won’t have noticed: he has a season ticket to the top of the podium. This was Michael Phelps’ third gold medal in Beijing and his ninth Olympic gold in all, equalling the all-time record. “That’s pretty cool,” he said.