Off Track ..... Phelps: Mandarin harder than winning gold

It turns out swimming miracle Michael Phelps can achieve almost anything. But there is one thing he is still struggling to overcome - learning Chinese.

"Learning Mandarin is even harder than winning eight gold medals in the pool," said the 23-year-old American. "It is the hardest thing I've ever tried in my life."

Phelps took French and German courses when he was in primary school, but the swimming ace said Chinese is much harder to learn.