USA - When Superstars turn cheerleaders!

BEIJING (Olympics) - Swimming sensation Michael Phelps on Wednesday received a new set of supporters for his quest for an unprecedented eight gold medals in the Olympics.

Kobe Bryant led his NBA colleagues LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Jason Kidd to the Water Cube to watch the 'Shark Tale' win his gold in 200m butterfly and 4x200m freestyle relay - the fourth and fifth of the six gold medals he has won so far.

Bryant sat next to hugged Phelps' mother Debbie to watch both the wins.

"He (Phelps) is so far ahead of everybody else, it was almost laughable," Bryant told The Washington Post, before heading to practice, in preparation for the revenge game against the Greeks.

"To be honest with you, I don't think I've ever seen anything more spectacular than the performance they put on in the pool. That's what the Olympics are about for me - going out and watching greatness. It's fun," the Team USA superstar said.

And Phelps responded in appreciation. "Having those guys here is pretty special. You can kind of hear them starting cheers and getting everybody going. It's pretty neat," he said.

Bryant has watched beach volleyball and James has seen Serena Williams and Roger Federer play tennis. Anthony and Dwight Howard have gone to boxing matches.

"We've been getting a great reception," Anthony told the same paper. "I don't think the other athletes expected that we'd be coming to their competitions. Every time we see somebody, they give us a warm welcome, like: 'Thank you. Thank you.' They appreciate it so much," the Denver Nuggets forward said.

Bryant, obviously, has been the most popular of them all. As Anthony joked, "Kobe might want to think about moving here -- to live."

FIBA