Phelps wins again in the Olympic pool. And it’s another world record.

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BEIJING -- Another swim, another gold medal, another world record.

That was Michael Phelps’ morning at the Water Cube on Tuesday, but only part of it. He has to come back in a little more than an hour for the final of the 800-meter freestyle relay.

That no doubt is one of the reasons he reacted so nonchalantly to his fourth gold medal, this one in the 200-meter butterfly. He swam it in 1:52.03, his fourth world record in four events, three of them in individual events. (For those keeping score, he now has 10 gold medals in his career, more than any other Olympian in history.)

Phelps touched the wall, looked at the scoreboard, shrugged a little, wiped his eyes and emerged from the pool--no raised arms, no smile, no hugs from his competitors. He was saving energy.

But he also wasn’t particularly pleased because of equipment failure that could happen to your average swimmer at the rec pool.

‘My goggles were pretty much filling up with water,’’ he said. ‘It kept getting worse and worse. To be honest, I was having trouble seeing the walls. For the circumstances, I guess it’s not too bad.’’

Obviously.

-- Randy Harvey and Lisa Dillman