Michael Phelps stands alone.

Less than an hour after tying the record for most career medals, Phelps became the most-decorated Olympian of all-time by anchoring the U.S. 4x200-meter freestyle relay to a resounding victory today and winning his first gold medal of the London Olympics.

The Baltimore swimmer now has 19 medals (15 gold, two silver and two bronze), surpassing gymnast Larisa Latynina of the Soviet Union. She won 18 medals during the 1950s and early ’60s.

Phelps had met Latynina, now 77, earlier in the year, during a photo shoot in New York. She had given him a non-Olympic medal from a U.S.-Soviet Union competition for good luck. She is in London, and while she's been watching the gymnastics competition, she had said she'd like to be at the pool to see Phelps tie her record.

Coming into London, the Baltimore swimmer already had the most gold medals with 14.