answers: Michael Phelps
context: medal statistics as a measure of success. As of the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, all of the current 206 NOCs and 19 obsolete NOCs have participated in at least one edition of the Summer Olympics. Competitors from Australia, France, Great Britain, Greece, and Switzerland have competed in all twenty-eight Summer Olympic Games. Athletes competing under the Olympic flag, Mixed Teams and the Refugee Team have between them competed at six Games. 119 NOCs (110 of the current 206 NOCs and 9 obsolete NOCs) have participated in at least one Winter Games, and athletes from fournteen nations (Austria, Canada, </s> Jacques Rogge described the Games as "Happy and Glorious". The host nation won 29 gold medals, the best haul for Great Britain since the 1908 Games in London. The United States returned to the top of the medal table after China dominated in 2008. The IOC had removed baseball and softball from the 2012 program. On a commercial level the Games were successful as they were the first in history to completely sell out every ticket, with as many as 1 million applications for 40,000 tickets for both the Opening Ceremony and the 100m Men's Sprint Final. Such was the </s> demand a good show. Television pays the IOC for the rights to that good show, and its sponsors want that too. Drug news and drug distractions are not a good show. People are not going to tune in to see athletes have their medals taken away from them." Mark Spitz Mark Andrew Spitz (born February 10, 1950) is an American former competitive swimmer, nine-time Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in 7 events. He won seven gold medals at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, an achievement surpassed only by fellow American Michael Phelps, who won eight golds
question: who made history by winning 8 gold medals in the beijing olympics in one event